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Compress an image to under 200 KB

Fit a photo under 200 KB for applications, CVs and document uploads.

How it works

200 KB is a comfortable limit: a JPG at that size can be 1200 to 1600 px wide at good quality, so photos look good on a full screen and scanned documents remain legible. It is a common cap for CV or resume photos, scanned certificates and marketplace listings.

If you are uploading a scanned document, the tool keeps its full resolution wherever possible because text compresses well. For photos with lots of fine detail (foliage, fabric) it may lower quality more; check the preview and raise the target if the form allows it.

What the 200 KB compressor did to real files

Measured on 2026-09-22 with this page's own compressor in Chrome. The test files were an A4 page of printed text scanned at 300 dpi (2480 × 3508 px, 2.0 MB JPG), a 12-megapixel photo-like image (4032 × 3024 px, 2.1 MB; a sample photograph enlarged with camera-like noise added) and a 1200 × 1406 px portrait photo (328 KB). JPEG quality is estimated from each output file's quantisation tables.

A photo of about one megapixel fits under 200 KB at good quality without losing a pixel: the portrait kept its full size at a JPEG quality of about 77. A 12 MP camera photo still had to shrink to about 3.4 megapixels, and the scanned page to about 177 dpi, which reads cleanly on screen and prints acceptably.

If the result is for a document, check the preview at 100% zoom; if small print has blurred, remove the margins or crop to the part that matters so the text gets more of the 200 KB.

Test fileResultPixel sizeJPEG quality
A4 text page, 300 dpi199 KB1464 × 2071 (about 177 dpi)about 43
12 MP photo193 KB2143 × 1608about 43
Portrait, 1200 × 1406193 KB1200 × 1406 (unchanged)about 77

Where you meet 200 KB limits

Bahrain's Labour Market Regulatory Authority states that images uploaded to its Expatriate Management System must be JPEGs of at most 200 KB; its own help page walks employers through resizing in Paint.NET. The same figure appears on CV and profile-photo fields and on many certificate uploads.

  • LMRA gives no pixel dimensions, so keep the photo's natural portrait framing and let the size target do the work.
  • For a scanned certificate, a 150 to 200 dpi scan in greyscale leaves more of the 200 KB for detail than a colour 300 dpi scan.

Sources: LMRA, "Resize images" (Arabic) (checked 2026-09-20)

How to use it

  1. Drop the photo on the upload area or click to browse. JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC and GIF are accepted.
  2. The target is already set to 200 KB. Adjust it only if your form quotes a different number.
  3. Keep JPG as the output unless the destination explicitly accepts WebP.
  4. Click Compress and wait a second or two; the result card shows the exact output size.
  5. Click Download. The compressed file is saved next to your original, which is not changed.

Frequently asked questions

Is 200 KB enough for a scanned document?

Usually yes. An A4 scan at 150 dpi (1240 x 1754 px) compresses to well under 200 KB as JPG if the page is mostly text. If it comes out blurry, scan at a lower dpi instead of relying on heavier compression.

Can I compress a PNG screenshot to 200 KB?

Yes. The screenshot is converted to JPG (or WebP if you choose it) because PNG cannot be compressed to a size target. Text on a screenshot stays readable at 85-95% JPG quality.

Does the result stay under the limit exactly?

Yes. The output is always at or below the number shown, measured in kilobytes of 1024 bytes, which is also how Windows, macOS and most upload forms measure files. The final size is displayed before you download.

Will my photo look bad?

Quality is only reduced as far as needed. The tool starts from 95% quality and searches downwards; dimensions are only reduced if quality alone cannot reach the target. A JPG or WebP that is already under the limit is returned as it is, never re-encoded into a bigger file. Photos for forms are usually viewed small, so even aggressive targets look fine on screen.

Is the image uploaded to a server?

No. Decoding and encoding happen in a Web Worker inside your browser. The site never receives the file.

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