Why forms refuse photos
Job portals and university or government forms often accept photos only up to a set size, such as 100 KB, 200 KB or 1 MB, and often only as JPG. A photo from a phone is usually far larger, so the upload is refused.
| Check in the form | What to do here |
|---|---|
| Largest file size | Type it with “At most” |
| Smallest file size | Switch to “At least” and type it |
| File type | Keep JPG, which most forms ask for |
| Size in pixels | Crop or resize the photo first, then compress it |
A photo for a CV or an application
Use a recent portrait with a plain background, cropped to the head and shoulders. A plain background also compresses well, so the photo stays sharp even under a tight limit.
Quality first, then pixels
A JPG or WebP file gets smaller in two ways: a lower quality, which drops fine detail the eye hardly sees, or fewer pixels. The tool lowers the quality first, only as far as the photo still looks good, and then makes the photo smaller. Tick “Keep the dimensions” when the size in pixels must stay; then only the quality goes down.
When the photo itself is the problem
Compression makes a photo lighter, not better: it cannot fix a blurry, dark or badly framed picture. If the photo is for a CV, a profile or an application and you have no good one, a professional headshot made from a few selfies gives you one.