Upload limits turn up in the least convenient places: visa application portals, job sites, insurance claims, university submission systems, email attachments. The limit is usually non-negotiable and the error message rarely tells you what to do. Here is the order of operations that actually works.
1. Resize before you compress
This is almost always the real problem and almost always the last thing people try. A photo straight from a phone is 4000 pixels or more across, which is far more than any document form needs. Halving both dimensions cuts the pixel count to a quarter, and the file size falls roughly in proportion.
For a scanned document or an ID photo, 1500 to 2000 pixels on the long edge is plenty to stay readable. Use resize image and then check the size before doing anything else. Very often you are already under the limit.
2. Compress to the exact target
If it is still too large, compress to a specific ceiling rather than guessing at quality settings. The target-size tools re-encode repeatedly and keep the highest quality that fits: 1MB, 500KB, 200KB and smaller. Set the target just under the stated limit, not exactly at it, since some systems count the encoded attachment rather than the raw file.
3. Check the format the form wants
Read the accepted formats before optimising. Many official portals accept only JPG and PDF. If your file is a PNG screenshot or an iPhone HEIC, converting is both required and usually a large size win: PNG to JPG or HEIC to JPG. For multi-page documents, JPG to PDF combines images into one file, which some forms require anyway.
4. Crop what is not needed
If a scan has wide empty margins or a photo has irrelevant background, cropping removes real data rather than degrading what remains. For a document photo it also usually improves legibility. Use crop image.
What not to do
- Do not zip an image to shrink it. JPG and PNG are already compressed; a zip saves almost nothing and many forms reject archives.
- Do not screenshot the photo to make it smaller. You lose quality and often gain size, and it looks like what it is.
- Do not push quality below 50 on anything a human has to read. An unreadable document will be rejected by a person instead of by the form.
All of the above run in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, which matters more than usual here, given that these files are typically passports, bank statements and medical documents. See how that works and how to verify it.