How to resize your photo and signature for an online application form

Recruitment exams, university admissions and government services often ask for two images: a recent photo and a scan of your signature, each with exact dimensions and a file size between a minimum and a maximum. A typical notice might say: photo 200 × 230 pixels, 20–50 KB; signature 140 × 60 pixels, 10–20 KB. Phone photos are thousands of pixels wide and several megabytes, so they are rejected on both counts.

Always use the numbers from your own notice. The steps below work for any set of numbers.

Step 1: take good source images

• Photo: face the camera, plain light background, even daylight, no cap or dark glasses unless allowed. Fill most of the frame with head and shoulders.
• Signature: sign with a black pen on plain white paper, larger than usual, and photograph it from directly above in good light, with no shadow from your phone.

Step 2: crop to the right shape

200 × 230 is a slightly tall rectangle; 140 × 60 is a wide strip. If you resize a photo of a different shape straight to those numbers, faces and signatures get stretched. Crop first:

1. Open Crop Image and choose Free.
2. Type a crop size in the same proportion as the target, for example 1000 × 1150 for a 200 × 230 photo, or 1400 × 600 for a 140 × 60 signature.
3. Move the crop over the face or signature, leaving a small margin, and crop.

Step 3: resize to the exact pixels

In Resize Image, choose By pixels and type the exact width and height. Because you cropped to the right proportion, nothing is distorted. Save as JPG, which is what most portals expect.

Step 4: land inside the KB range

Open Compress Image and adjust the quality slider while watching the file size.

• Too large: lower the quality a step at a time until it is under the maximum.
• Too small, below the minimum: raise the quality. A tiny image at very high quality can still be under a minimum like 20 KB; in that case quality 95 or above usually lifts it into range.

Aim for the middle of the range rather than just under the limit, so a slightly different way of counting KB on the portal does not reject it. All of this runs in your browser, so your photo and signature are not uploaded to any third-party site.

Why uploads are still rejected

• Wrong file type: some forms accept only .jpg or .jpeg, not PNG or HEIC. iPhone photos are often HEIC; see converting iPhone HEIC photos.
• Signature too faint: a blue ballpoint photographed in dim light may be rejected as unreadable. Use black ink and good light.
• Old photo: many notices require a photo taken within a recent period. Use a new one.
• Pixel dimensions slightly off: check the final file's size in your computer's file properties before uploading.

For printed passport-style photos at millimetre sizes, see making a passport photo at home. For general advice on hitting a size in KB, see resizing a photo to exact pixels and KB.