Compress Image to 50KB

What 50KB holds

On our eight sample photos, 50KB held 586 by 586 pixels for a close-up of a flower and 1,152 by 768 for a mountain lake. That is 2.5 times the bytes of a 20KB file but only about 1.7 times the width, because pixels add up in two directions. So going from 20KB to 50KB helps, but less than the numbers suggest.

Forms that set a minimum too

Some forms ask for a range, such as 20KB to 50KB. This page uses as much of the limit as it can. In our tests, every photo that had to lose pixels landed within 5 percent of the limit, which clears most minimums.

The one exception is a file already under the limit and already in the format you chose. You get it back untouched, and it may be too small for the form.

ID photos and document scans

Sharp edges cost more bytes than skin does, so text blurs before a face does. After compressing a scan, open it at full size and check that names and numbers are readable. If they aren't, crop to the part the form needs.

A re-saved file is built from the pixels alone, so it leaves behind hidden data from the original such as GPS location.