Is a KB here 1,000 bytes or 1,024?

1,024. That is how Windows, macOS and the Indian exam and bank portals measure a file, so a file this page calls 50 KB is one those portals also call 50 KB. The check is made on the exact number of bytes in the file that was written, never on an estimate, and figures are rounded down so 50.4 KB is never shown as 50 KB.

What does the target actually do to my photo?

It keeps the photo's pixels and lowers the JPEG quality until the file fits, never below quality 40. If quality 40 is still too big, it shrinks the pixels (by about 15% a side, or more when the file is far over) and searches again, up to eight times, then tries once to give back pixels it did not need. The row then says both: the quality that won and the new pixel size, next to the old one.

What if it still cannot get under the target?

The row is marked over target, the closest result is kept beside it, and nothing is silently dropped. Lowering the quality floor or allowing fewer pixels usually fixes it; a long, detailed panorama at a tiny target sometimes cannot be done honestly.

Can I set a minimum as well as a maximum?

Yes: choose Range in the recipe. A file that comes out under the minimum is re-encoded at a higher quality, up to 95. It is never padded with junk bytes, because a portal that checks the image can reject a padded file. If the minimum still cannot be reached, the row says so.

Can I do a whole set at once?

Yes. Every photo in the set gets the same target, each one searched on its own, and every row shows what it took. Then save one ZIP, or a single file when there is only one photo.

Reduce Photo Size in KB — Exact Target, Checked to the Byte

A measured example

Synthetic 1600 × 1200 test photo (noise and shapes, harder to compress than most photos), run by this build in Chromium 141 on 2026-10-18
Recipe	Target 100 KB, Standard (76), capture information removed
Before	724.1 KB · 1600 × 1200 · JPEG
After	99.3 KB · 1600 × 1200 · JPEG q42
Change	−86.3%

What this does

Reduce photo size in KB by typing the number the form asks for. The desk starts at a 100 KB target; change it in the recipe bar to anything from a few KB to several MB. Each photo keeps its pixels while the quality comes down, and only when quality 40 is still too heavy do the pixels step down as well. The one honest limit: a very small target on a very detailed photo may not be reachable without making it unreadable, and then the row says so instead of pretending.

When to use this, and when not

Use it when a portal states a maximum in KB and you have one photo, or a few, to bring under it.
If the number is one of the common ones, the dedicated pages start with it already set and list the forms that use it: 20 KB, 50 KB (with the 20–50 KB range), 100 KB and 200 KB.
If there is no KB limit and you only want a folder to take less space, compress a photo library keeps quality steady across every file instead.

KB, pixels and why both move

A file’s size in KB depends on how many pixels it has and how hard each one is squeezed. A 12-megapixel phone photo at good quality is several megabytes; at quality 40 it is still several hundred KB. Under about 100 KB the pixels nearly always have to come down too, which is why this page does that for you and writes the new size on the row. Some forms also fix the pixel size (for example 200 × 230 px); check the form’s own instructions for that, because this page only sets the size in KB.

Honest limits

The JPEG encoder is the one built into your browser, so the same photo can come out a few KB different in Chrome, Safari and Firefox. The size on the row is the size of your file.
It never pads a file to reach a minimum. A photo that cannot honestly reach a minimum is marked under the minimum.
Capture information (date, camera, place) is removed on this page, because forms do not need it. Switch Metadata to Keep in the recipe bar to keep it.
Links of the form /reduce-photo-size-in-kb?target=30kb open the desk at that target; the address bar is then cleaned so the link shares a setting, never a file.

Privacy on this page

The search for the right size runs entirely in this tab: each probe is an encode in your browser, and none of them leaves it. Read more in files that get bigger about why some photos are left as they were.

Step by step

Choose the photo. Press Choose photos, or drop one or more photos onto the desk.
Type the size. In the recipe bar, Size per file is already on Target. Type the limit the form gives, for example 50, 50 KB or 0.05 MB.
Compress. Press Compress. One photo shows a before-and-after with the exact size; a set shows a row per photo.
Download. Download the photo, or save the ZIP for a set. Check the size on the row against the form before uploading.

Questions

Is a KB here 1,000 bytes or 1,024?: 1,024. That is how Windows, macOS and the Indian exam and bank portals measure a file, so a file this page calls 50 KB is one those portals also call 50 KB. The check is made on the exact number of bytes in the file that was written, never on an estimate, and figures are rounded down so 50.4 KB is never shown as 50 KB.
What does the target actually do to my photo?: It keeps the photo's pixels and lowers the JPEG quality until the file fits, never below quality 40. If quality 40 is still too big, it shrinks the pixels (by about 15% a side, or more when the file is far over) and searches again, up to eight times, then tries once to give back pixels it did not need. The row then says both: the quality that won and the new pixel size, next to the old one.
What if it still cannot get under the target?: The row is marked over target, the closest result is kept beside it, and nothing is silently dropped. Lowering the quality floor or allowing fewer pixels usually fixes it; a long, detailed panorama at a tiny target sometimes cannot be done honestly.
Can I set a minimum as well as a maximum?: Yes: choose Range in the recipe. A file that comes out under the minimum is re-encoded at a higher quality, up to 95. It is never padded with junk bytes, because a portal that checks the image can reject a padded file. If the minimum still cannot be reached, the row says so.
Can I do a whole set at once?: Yes. Every photo in the set gets the same target, each one searched on its own, and every row shows what it took. Then save one ZIP, or a single file when there is only one photo.