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Getting a photo under 50 KB
Photo uploads for exam registrations, applications and ID cards are often limited to 50 KB. A phone photo is usually several megabytes, so it has to lose most of its pixels.
We scale the photo down and lower JPEG quality together until it fits. Even the smallest setting keeps 800 pixels on the longest side, which is more than most photo forms display.
Tips
- Crop to head and shoulders before uploading. Fewer pixels to start with means less detail has to go.
- Use a plain, light background. It takes far fewer bytes than a busy one.
- If the form also has a minimum size or exact pixel dimensions, check the result against them. We aim for the file size only.
Questions
Can a 12 MP phone photo get under 50 KB?
Only by losing most of its pixels. A 12 MP photo is about 4000 x 3000 pixels, and our smallest step keeps 800 x 600, about 4% of them, at JPEG quality 35. We stop at the first step that fits, so if 50 KB is reached at a larger step, more of the picture stays.
Will a sideways phone photo come out the right way up at 50 KB?
Yes. Phones often store a photo sideways with a flag saying which way to turn it. We turn the pixels upright before resizing, so the 50 KB JPEG displays correctly even where that flag is ignored, and the flag itself is dropped with the rest of the metadata.
Why does my 50 KB photo look softer when I zoom in on it?
To reach 50 KB, pixel size and JPEG quality drop together: the lower steps pair 1400 pixels with quality 60, 1200 with 55, 1000 with 45 and 800 with 35. Fine texture such as hair and fabric goes first. The softness shows most when you zoom in.
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