How to get an image under 50 KB

What happened at 50 KB in our tests

We tested two JPG photos in two browser engines, Chromium and WebKit, on a computer: a 12-megapixel photo we generated for testing (4000 × 3000 pixels, 3,422,855 bytes), and a real street photo (3840 × 2880 pixels, 1,446,573 bytes).

With the default settings, both fitted, at about 65–67% quality:

• The 12-megapixel photo came out between 829 × 621 and 1088 × 816 pixels.
• The street photo came out between 683 × 512 and 758 × 569 pixels.

So the 12-megapixel photo kept roughly a fifth to just over a quarter of its width, and the street photo less than a fifth.

With “Keep original dimensions” turned on, neither fitted. At the lowest quality the tool uses, 45%, the smallest copies were 446,401 and 535,915 bytes, around nine to eleven times the limit. The tool showed them as “Closest we could get”, not as fits.

Note: That is what happened with these two photos. Other images can come out differently, and some may not reach 50 KB at all.

Close to the smallest size the tool makes

The Make My File Fit Image tool never makes a picture smaller than 640 px on its longest side. At 50 KB, the street photo came out 683 pixels wide in one browser, not far above that floor.

Here is what the tool does when a copy at 640 px is still too big:

1. At 640 px it lowers the quality below 65%, down to 45%.
2. If the copy still doesn’t fit, the tool doesn’t call it a fit. It shows “Closest we could get” with the smallest size it reached.
3. You can still download that copy, but the tool warns that it is over your limit.

A copy over the limit will probably be refused by a form with a 50 KB limit, so try one of the options below first.

When a bigger limit is better

• Check the limit again. Make sure the form says 50 KB and not 50 MB or 500 KB. If it allows more, pick that limit instead: at a bigger limit, the tool can keep more pixels.
• Check the copy’s pixel size. If the form also asks for a minimum width and height, a 50 KB copy may be too small in pixels. The result screen shows its width and height.

If it won’t fit

• “Keep original dimensions” is on. At 50 KB it didn’t reach the limit for either test photo. Choose the “Allow resizing, keep JPG” change (the card names your file’s type).
• It’s a PNG. The tool has no quality setting for PNG, so a PNG only gets smaller in pixels, and at 640 px it can’t go further. If the form accepts JPG, choose Convert to JPG. JPG has no transparency, so a transparent background becomes white. The tool only does that when you choose it.
• WebP. If the form takes WebP, Convert to WebP is offered only when your browser can save WebP files.

Before you upload

Open the copy at its real size and check that it still shows what the form needs: a readable face, legible text, the details that matter. Compare closely on the result screen shows your original and the copy at the same spot.

If the copy is too small to be useful, check whether the form takes a bigger file. For a limit twice this size, see how to get an image under 100 KB. If the form still refuses your copy, see “File too large” when uploading.