Compress an image to 20 KB
Some upload boxes are brutal. A 20 KB cap usually means a tiny avatar or a thumbnail, and your phone photo is sitting at 4 MB. The compress to size tool targets 20 KB exactly so you can stop guessing.
Drop images here or click to upload
PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, AVIF, HEIC — up to 50MB each
Output lands at or under your target. JPEG and WebP only.
- Files never leave your device
- Runs in your browser
- Free, no signup
What actually fits in 20 KB
At 20 KB you are working with a thumbnail, not a poster. Expect a clean result around 150x150 to 250x250 pixels for a simple face or logo. Push the dimensions higher and the JPEG artifacts start to show as blocky edges and muddy color.
If your source is a full 12-megapixel shot, the smart move is to resize the image first down to a small square, then compress. Shrinking the pixel count does most of the work, and the compressor only has to nudge the quality slider after that.
Where a 20 KB limit shows up
Forum avatars, old-school message boards, and a handful of strict exam registration portals still enforce caps this tight. Some legacy systems were built when bandwidth was expensive and never got updated.
Because 20 KB is so small, accept that a photo with fine detail will lose sharpness. A flat logo or a simple icon survives much better than a busy landscape. JPEG handles photos better than PNG here, since PNG keeps detail you do not have room for.
One tip for the smallest files
Crop tight before you compress. Empty background eats bytes for no reason, so frame just the subject. A face that fills the square at 200 pixels wide will look far better at 20 KB than the same face floating in a wide scene.
Frequently asked questions
Related guides
Step-by-step help that pairs with this tool.