PhotoFit / Guides
How to reduce photo size without losing quality
A photo has two sizes: its dimensions in pixels, and its file size in kilobytes. Forms limit one or both. Getting under a KB limit while staying sharp is mostly a matter of doing the steps in the right order.
1. Crop first
Every pixel you remove is data you no longer store. Crop tightly around the subject before anything else. For an ID photo, a close crop of the head and shoulders is both what the form wants and the biggest saving.
2. Match the pixel size the form asks for
If a form wants 200 × 230 pixels, set exactly that. A 4000-pixel photo shrunk to 200 pixels is far smaller than the same photo compressed harder at full size, and it looks better too, because resizing keeps detail that heavy compression destroys.
3. Lower the JPEG quality last
Quality is the final lever. Between about 70 and 90 percent, most photos look almost identical, but the file shrinks a lot. Below 50 percent, blocky patches and halos appear around edges. The tool searches for the highest quality that still fits your limit.
4. Keep the background plain
Plain backgrounds compress far better than busy ones. A white or light wall behind the subject can halve the file size at the same quality.
5. Check the number the portal checks
Some portals read a KB as 1000 bytes, others as 1024. See KB vs KiB for why a file that shows 49.9 KB on your computer can still be refused.
Why not just use a quality slider?
A slider makes you guess, resize, check the file size and repeat. PhotoFit measures the real file for you, so it lands inside your limit on the first try.