Two levers: dimensions and quality
File size is mostly controlled by two things: how many pixels the image has, and how aggressively the encoder compresses them. JPEG quality is a 0–100 dial that trades visual fidelity for size. At quality 90 a typical 600×600 photo is around 80–150KB; at quality 60 it can drop to 25–40KB.
Targets and what they mean
- 20 KB — common for old government forms with strict upload caps. Expect noticeable softness.
- 50 KB — a comfortable target for 413×531 px passport photos.
- 100 KB — the most common limit. Output quality is usually excellent.
- 200 KB — generous; useful when print quality matters.
JPG vs PNG vs WEBP
For photos, JPG is almost always the right choice — it compresses photographic gradients efficiently. PNG is best for graphics with sharp edges or transparency, but produces files several times larger than JPG for the same photo. WEBP is even smaller than JPG at similar quality, but not all upload portals accept it.
How PhotoFileSize hits the target
- It encodes your photo at quality 0.95 and measures the result.
- If the file is too big, it binary-searches the quality dial to find the highest value that fits.
- If even quality 0.4 is too big, it scales the image down by 15% and tries again, up to a few times.
- The final file is offered for download with the dimensions and size shown.
Try it on the main tool.
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