Compress a photo for job application portals
Some hiring and government job portals ask for a headshot photo under a strict KB limit, separate from your resume file. Set the limit from the portal and download a photo sized to match.
Drop an image here, or click to choose a file
JPG, PNG, or WebP — processed entirely on your device, never uploaded
This tool compresses photos, not PDF resumes. If it's your resume file that's too large, you'll need a PDF compressor instead.
Getting a clean headshot under the limit
Portals that request a headshot photo alongside your application usually cap it well below what a phone camera produces by default — a photo straight off a modern smartphone can run several megabytes, while the upload field might cap out at 100 KB or less. Compressing to a specific KB target, rather than dragging a vague quality slider and hoping, means you can hit the limit on the first try instead of guessing and re-uploading.
When a photo actually belongs on a job application
Practice varies a lot by country and industry. In the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, attaching a photo to a resume is generally discouraged — many employers and hiring systems actively avoid looking at applicant photos to reduce bias risk, and some ATS platforms strip images out entirely. Where this tool is genuinely useful is the narrower case of a portal with a dedicated photo upload field — government job applications, some corporate ATS systems, and creative fields like acting, modeling, or on-camera roles, where a headshot is part of the actual application requirements rather than an optional add-on to a resume.
A resume photo is not a resume file
It's worth being clear about what this tool does and doesn't do: it compresses image files only. If a job portal is rejecting your resume itself for being too large, that's almost always a PDF or Word document size problem, not an image compression problem, and needs a different tool. This page is specifically for the separate photo or headshot upload field some portals include alongside the resume upload.
Formats that avoid upload problems
JPEG is the most universally accepted format across hiring portals and produces the smallest file at acceptable quality, which is why it's the default output here. Formats like HEIC (the default on many iPhones) or TIFF are rejected outright by a lot of applicant tracking systems — if your photo is in one of those formats, convert it to JPG or PNG first (most phones offer this as a share or export option), then use this tool to hit your target size.
Frequently asked questions
Should I even include a photo on a US job application?
In the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, resume photos are generally discouraged and can work against you due to anti-discrimination norms in hiring. This tool is mainly useful when a specific portal explicitly asks for a headshot upload as a separate field — government job portals, some ATS systems, and creative-industry applications (acting, modeling, on-camera roles) being the most common cases — or when applying to a role or country where a photo is standard practice.
What size and format do hiring portals usually expect for a photo?
It varies by platform, but keeping a headshot under roughly 100–200 KB in JPG format is a safe target for most systems. Some applicant tracking systems (ATS) reject unusual formats like HEIC or TIFF outright, so JPG is the safest default unless the portal says otherwise.
Is this the same as compressing my resume file?
No — this tool compresses image files (JPG, PNG, WebP), not PDF or Word documents. If your resume itself is too large to upload, you'll need a PDF compressor instead; this tool is specifically for a separate photo/headshot upload field.
What's a good target size if the portal doesn't specify one?
100 KB is a reasonable default for a headshot-style photo — small enough to clear most upload limits, large enough to still look sharp at typical display sizes. If the portal gives an explicit number, use that instead.