Compress Image to Exact KB

Most online portals reject photos that are even a kilobyte over their limit, which is why “compress to a target size” is the feature that actually matters. Instead of guessing at a quality percentage, you type the size you need — say 200KB or 50KB — and the tool runs a binary search across quality levels, downscaling the image only if it has to, until the result lands at or just under your target while keeping the most detail possible.

Lossy vs lossless compression

JPG and WebP use lossy compression: they discard information the eye barely notices to achieve dramatically smaller files. PNG is lossless, so it stays larger but pixel-perfect. For photographs, exporting to optimised JPG or WebP gives the biggest savings with no visible difference at quality 70–90%. For screenshots, logos and line art with sharp edges or transparency, keep PNG or WebP.

Common size limits and where they apply

• 20–50KB — passport and signature photos for many exam and visa forms
• 100–200KB — government portals, college admission and bank KYC uploads
• under 1MB — most job-application and CV photo fields
• under 100KB per image — fast-loading website images that help Core Web Vitals

Tips for the best quality at a small size

• Resize the dimensions first if the image is far larger than it needs to be — a 4000px photo shown at 800px wastes most of its bytes.
• Prefer WebP when the destination supports it: it is typically 25–35% smaller than JPG at the same quality.
• Compress once from the original. Repeatedly re-compressing an already-compressed JPG degrades it.
• If a strict KB cap forces visible artefacts, reduce the dimensions slightly rather than crushing the quality.

Working with images for the web? Cut the dimensions first with the image resizer, switch formats with the image converter, or strip hidden location data using remove EXIF before you share.