Make a photo between 20 KB and 50 KB

Who asks for 20 to 50 KB

This range is common on Indian recruitment forms. Examples from official pages we checked:

• MSTC (recruitment): photo 20 to 50 KB, 200 x 230 pixels preferred.
• Punjab & Sind Bank (recruitment, 2024): photo 20 to 50 KB at 200 x 230 pixels, and a left thumb impression 20 to 50 KB at 240 x 240 pixels in 200 DPI.
• SSC CHSL 2022 notice: photo 20 to 50 KB, about 3.5 x 4.5 cm.
• Arunachal Pradesh PSC (one time registration): signature 20 to 50 KB.

Check the notice for your own application, because rules change between years.

The minimum is the hard part

Getting under 50 KB is easy. Getting over 20 KB at a small pixel size is not. We fitted two test photos into the range:

At 200 x 230 the portrait cleared 20 KB only by going to quality 98. A photo against a flat white wall would have fallen short. When that happens the tool says so instead of padding the file. MSTC and the bank call 200 x 230 "preferred", so a slightly larger size such as 276 x 354 (3.5 x 4.5 cm at 200 DPI) is the honest fix.

Signatures in a 20 KB minimum

A signature is mostly blank paper, so a 20 KB minimum is a stretch at small sizes. At 315 x 157 pixels (4 x 2 cm at 200 DPI) our test signature needed quality 99 to clear 20 KB, at 20.5 KB, and only with its paper texture kept; at 400 x 175 it reached 22.3 KB at quality 98. A cleaner or smaller signature can fall short, so give it more pixels if the form allows. With Whiten the paper on, the tool keeps the paper texture by itself when pure white would fall short, and says so: the texture is real detail that adds bytes.

Sources, checked 13 October 2026: MSTC Limited, steps for uploading images and documents; Punjab & Sind Bank, guidelines for scanning photograph, signature, thumb impression and declaration (2024, PDF); Staff Selection Commission (KKR), CHSL 2022 notice on photographs and signatures (PDF); Arunachal Pradesh PSC, one time registration instructions.