How to resize your photo and signature for exam and job forms

5 min read · Updated October 2026

Online application forms are strict: the photo must be, say, 20-50 KB and 3.5 × 4.5 cm, the signature 10-20 KB. Here's how to hit those numbers exactly.

First, check your notification

Every exam and recruitment body sets its own rules, and they change from year to year. Before you start, find these four things in the official notification or the upload page:

• File size - for example 20-50 KB for the photo and 10-20 KB for the signature (common ranges).
• Dimensions - in cm, mm or pixels, for example 3.5 × 4.5 cm.
• Format - almost always JPG/JPEG.
• Background and look - usually a plain light background, face clearly visible, recent photo.

Resize the photo

1. Open Resize image and add your photo.
2. Set the Unit to what the form uses - cm, mm or pixels - and type the width and height. For a 3.5 × 4.5 cm photo, choose Centimetres, width 3.5, height 4.5, and set Resolution to 300 DPI.
3. Choose Fill and crop so the photo fills the shape without stretching your face.
4. Set Format to JPG and enter the Max file size, for example 50 KB.
5. Press Resize. The result shows the exact pixels and KB - check they're inside the allowed range.

Need it at least 20 KB and it came out smaller? Raise the quality slider a little, or set the max size to 45 KB instead of a much lower number.

Resize the signature

1. Sign with a black or blue pen on plain white paper and take a clear, straight photo in good light.
2. Use Crop image to cut tightly around the signature.
3. Open Resize image, enter the size the form asks for (for example 4.0 × 2.0 cm) and a max file size such as 20 KB, and choose Fit inside with a white background so nothing gets cut off.

Common reasons forms reject the upload

• File is a PNG or HEIC instead of JPG - convert with Convert image or HEIC to JPG.
• File is too small (under the minimum KB) - increase quality or size slightly.
• Photo is sideways - fix with Rotate image.