Why doesn't this page cover job-application portals or exam-registration sites?

Those limits are set per-employer or per-notification and change often, and the numbers we found while researching this page conflicted across sources — so we couldn't confirm a single current figure worth publishing. If a specific portal you're using states its own KB limit on the upload page, our Reduce Image Size in KB or Photo Resizer in KB tools let you enter that exact number.

Should I use a compress tool or a resize tool to hit one of these limits?

If the limit is mostly about file weight (Gmail, LinkedIn's 8MB cap), a compress-to-KB tool that keeps your original dimensions is usually enough. If the limit specifies pixel dimensions (the 600–1200px squares that passports and visas require), resize to those dimensions directly rather than guessing at a KB target — hitting the pixel spec is what the form actually checks.

Will hitting the KB number exactly guarantee my upload is accepted?

No — KB and pixel limits are necessary but not sufficient. Background color, image shape, head size, and file format rules (all covered on the source pages linked above) are checked separately and are just as often the reason an upload gets rejected.

GUIDE

What Image Size Do You Actually Need? Verified Upload Limits

"Compress image to 100KB" and similar searches usually skip a step: 100KB, or 20KB, or 50KB isn't a universal number — it's whatever a specific form, portal, or app actually asks for. Guess wrong and you either fail an upload or shrink a photo more than you needed to.

This page lists the platforms whose limits we could actually verify against their own published documentation — no estimates, no "typically around" numbers. Each entry links to the primary source and to the tool on this site that matches it. If a platform you're looking for isn't here, it's because we couldn't confirm a current, official number for it, not because we forgot — we'd rather leave it out than guess.

US visa photo (DS-160 online application)

JPEG file no larger than 240KB. Square image, minimum 600×600 pixels, maximum 1200×1200 pixels. Must be 24-bit color (sRGB).

The State Department's own photo tool crops to exactly 600×600px, so 600–1200px square is the safe range to aim for.

Source: U.S. Department of State — Digital Image Requirements

Compress Image to 200KB → 200KB lands comfortably under the 240KB cap. If you'd rather use closer to the full budget, Reduce Image Size in KB lets you enter 240 directly.

US passport photo (online renewal upload)

JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC, or HEIF file between 54KB and 10MB. Square image, minimum 600×600 pixels, maximum 1200×1200 pixels.

A photo straight off a modern phone camera almost always already falls inside this range once it's cropped square — you're more likely to need to size it up than down.

Source: U.S. Department of State — Uploading a Digital Photo

Resize Image → Most phone photos need cropping to a 1:1 square and resizing into the 600–1200px range, not compressing — Resize Image handles the pixel dimensions directly.

Gmail attachments

25MB total per email, across all attachments combined, for personal Gmail accounts.

This is a total-per-email cap, not per-file — and it's far larger than any photo needs to be. A single image essentially never bumps into it.

Source: Google — Send attachments with your Gmail message

Compress Image to 1MB → You don't need to compress for Gmail's sake — the cap is generous. Compress Image to 1MB is only worth using if you're attaching several full-resolution photos and want the total email to load faster for the recipient.

LinkedIn profile photo

JPG, PNG, or GIF file no larger than 8MB. Square image, between 400×400 and 7680×4320 pixels.

Source: LinkedIn Help — Photo Won't Upload to Your Profile

Resize Image → 8MB is a generous ceiling most photos never approach — the number worth checking is the 400×400px pixel minimum, which Resize Image sets directly.

WhatsApp display picture and photos

WhatsApp doesn't publish a fixed KB limit for display-picture or chat photos, so there's no specific target to compress to. Instead, its Help Center documents a Standard vs. HD quality choice when you send a photo through the normal photo picker — WhatsApp re-encodes the image either way, at its own resolution and quality level, regardless of how large or small the file you started with was.

Practically, that means pre-compressing a photo to a specific KB number before sending it as a WhatsApp photo doesn't preserve anything extra — WhatsApp's own re-encoding is what decides the final size. If you need the exact original file to arrive untouched, send it as a Document instead of through the photo picker; WhatsApp's Help Center confirms Documents aren't re-compressed the way photos are.

Source: WhatsApp Help Center — How to edit photos and videos

Need a size that isn't listed above?

Whatever number a form asks for, enter it directly rather than guessing at a preset: Reduce Image Size in KB holds your original dimensions and only lowers quality unless it has to scale as a fallback, while Photo Resizer in KB scales the dimensions down alongside quality from the start — useful if a compress-only result still looks too soft. For a set of common round-number targets, see Compress Image to 100KB and Resize Image to 100KB.

Frequently asked questions

Why doesn't this page cover job-application portals or exam-registration sites?: Those limits are set per-employer or per-notification and change often, and the numbers we found while researching this page conflicted across sources — so we couldn't confirm a single current figure worth publishing. If a specific portal you're using states its own KB limit on the upload page, our Reduce Image Size in KB or Photo Resizer in KB tools let you enter that exact number.
Should I use a compress tool or a resize tool to hit one of these limits?: If the limit is mostly about file weight (Gmail, LinkedIn's 8MB cap), a compress-to-KB tool that keeps your original dimensions is usually enough. If the limit specifies pixel dimensions (the 600–1200px squares that passports and visas require), resize to those dimensions directly rather than guessing at a KB target — hitting the pixel spec is what the form actually checks.
Will hitting the KB number exactly guarantee my upload is accepted?: No — KB and pixel limits are necessary but not sufficient. Background color, image shape, head size, and file format rules (all covered on the source pages linked above) are checked separately and are just as often the reason an upload gets rejected.

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