Visa & passport applications
Passport Photo Under 20 KB — 600×600 px
Preset and ready: drop a file and the output lands under 20 KB as JPEG, capped at 600×600 px — processed entirely in your browser.
Drop your image here or browse
JPEG, PNG, WebP — everything stays on your device
Why this exact limit matters
Six hundred by six hundred pixels is the floor of the US visa photo world: the DS-160 application and the DV lottery both require a square JPEG between 600×600 and 1200×1200 pixels, at most 240 KB. This page pairs a 20 KB ceiling with the 600×600 box — useful for portals that are stricter than the official 240 KB, and for squeezing a square-cropped photo into the smallest possible file.
Official systems validate mechanically, so hitting just under the stated kilobyte ceiling — without going below useful quality — is exactly what a target-driven compressor should do. 20 KB is one of the tightest limits you will meet online, and this page is preset to exactly that ceiling.
This page locks both constraints for you: the output is capped at 600×600 px and at 20 KB total size, which is the combination application forms actually check.
How to compress to 20 KB
- Drop your image into the box above — it stays on your device.
- Confirm the target: under 20 KB as JPEG, dimensions set to at most 600×600 px.
- The MozJPEG encoder searches its quality range so the JPEG output lands just under your limit. Dimensions are set to at most 600×600 px.
- Preview the result, compare it with the original if you want, and download — the filename carries its actual size.
Tip: Passport-style photos compress much better when the background is plain and evenly lit; a busy background forces the encoder to spend bytes on detail nobody needs.
Measured: 20 KB inside the 600×600 square
Our 914 KB portrait test file against a 20 KB ceiling, capped to the 600×600 square box:
Source file
914 KB
1500×1800 JPEG
Output
19.1 KB
47× smaller
Quality setting
q23
squeezed
Resolution
500×600
inside the box
Two honest observations. The output lands at 500×600 rather than a perfect square because the cap fits your aspect ratio — for a true DS-160 file, crop square before uploading. And 20 KB inside a 0.3-megapixel frame forces quality 23, which is functional but tight; the official 240 KB allowance exists precisely so you do not have to squeeze this hard.
The square-photo rule this page is built around
| Form | Photo size rule | Dimensions | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| US DS-160 (nonimmigrant visa) | ≤ 240 KB | 600×600–1200×1200 px, square | JPEG |
| US DV lottery | ≤ 240 KB | 600×600–1200×1200 px, square | JPEG |
| India Passport Seva (for contrast) | 20–100 KB | 3.5×4.5 cm portrait, not square | JPG |
From the US State Department’s published digital image requirements. Note the contrast with Indian systems: the US rule caps generously at 240 KB and cares mostly about the square geometry and head size (50–69% of image height).
Frequently asked questions
DS-160 allows 240 KB — why would I compress to 20 KB?
You usually should not — at 240 KB the same square frame holds far higher quality. This preset is for secondary portals (agencies, photocopy shops, third-party forms) that impose tighter caps than the official system, or when a slow connection makes a small file worthwhile.
Why did my photo come out 500×600 instead of 600×600?
The box is a maximum, and the tool preserves aspect ratio rather than stretching. Square-crop your source first — the DS-160 photo cropper on the State Department site does it, as does any photo editor — and the result fills the box symmetrically.
Does head size (50–69% rule) matter as much as pixels and KB?
For DS-160 it matters more than file size — photos get rejected for head framing far more often than for bytes. No compressor fixes framing; start from a photo shot for the requirement, then use this page for the numbers.
Is it safe to compress my passport photo online?
This tool never uploads your photo. Decoding and encoding happen inside your browser, no file is transmitted anywhere, and closing the tab erases everything. For identity documents that privacy matters more than convenience.
How does the tool hit the exact JPEG size?
It encodes your image with the MozJPEG encoder several times, binary-searching the quality setting until the output lands just under your limit — then keeps that best result.
Do I need an account or app install?
No account, no install, no watermark. The page you are on is the whole tool.