Compress an image to 500 KB
500 KB is preset. Read the size on the input card first: a file that is already under the limit should be sent as it is, not compressed again.
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The benefits portal takes a photo of your insurance card only under 500 KB. The expense app bounces a 3.8 MB receipt shot. An adjuster wants the damage photos emailed at half a megabyte each. Those are the 500 KB situations: a ceiling wide enough for a sharp, full-color picture, and one a phone camera still misses by a factor of four to ten, since a 12 MP JPG comes off the camera at 2 to 5 MB and the 48 MP modes go well beyond that.
Read the size before you compress. Drop the file here and its input card prints it; anywhere else it is right-click → Properties on Windows, Get Info in the Finder on a Mac, or the (i) button under a photo on an iPhone. Already under 500 KB? Attach the original. A compressor cannot add sharpness the file never had, and on this page a file with room to spare usually comes back heavier, for a reason explained below.
If it is over, the preset aims at 512,000 bytes — 500 × 1,024, the way Windows Explorer and this page count a kilobyte — and searches for the highest JPG quality that still fits. At this target the quality step alone nearly always does it, so a 4,032 × 3,024 phone photo comes out at 4,032 × 3,024: every pixel kept, only described with fewer bits.
How it works
Three steps, and the first one may be the only one you need.
Read the size on the card
Choose, drag, or paste (Ctrl+V on desktop) one photo or the whole set: JPG, PNG, WebP, or HEIC straight from an iPhone. Every input card shows the current file size. If it already reads under 500 KB, stop here and attach the original.
Leave the target at 500 KB
The settings panel opens on JPG with the 500 KB target already applied; the quality is picked by the search, not by you. Touch Max width (px) only when the portal also states a pixel limit, and change the format to PNG or WebP only if it is on the accepted list.
Generate, check the tag, download
Hit Generate images. Each result card lists the size before and after, the change in percent, the output dimensions, and a target met or smallest possible tag; the Compare button lays a slider over the original. Save each file on its own or every result as one .zip.
How a 4 MB phone photo gets under 500 KB
For JPG output the page binary-searches the quality setting between 5 and 96, at most 12 encodes, and keeps the highest quality that lands at or under 512,000 bytes, with no resizing. Where it stops depends on the picture: a document or a portrait against a plain wall ends in the 70s or 80s; a busy outdoor scene at the full 12 MP can settle in the 40s, still clean at screen size.
Only if even the lowest quality overshoots does the page shrink the image 15% per step, re-encode at quality 72, and try up to ten times. At 500 KB that stage is for a 24 MP shot full of foliage, a 10,000 px scan, or a PNG, which has no quality dial. If nothing fits, the card says smallest possible instead of target met, and you still get the file.
What to expect, by input
That first row is why you check the size first: a 180 KB input can return at 490 KB with a + percentage on the card, no sharper, just heavier — the original was fine.
| What you drop in | What the page does | Tag on the card |
|---|---|---|
| Photo already under 500 KB | Re-encoded at the highest quality that fits; usually ends up larger | target met, plus a + percentage |
| 12 MP phone JPG or HEIC, 2–5 MB | Lowers quality, keeps every pixel | target met |
| 48 MP phone shot or 24 MP camera JPG | Quality first; sometimes one 15% downscale | target met, smaller dimensions |
| PNG screenshot or graphic | No quality dial, so straight to 15% steps | target met, smaller dimensions |
Email: 500 KB apiece is what gets a batch through
Gmail stops a message at 25 MB and Outlook.com at 20 MB, but many corporate gateways are set to 10 MB and bounce on the receiving side after your client has said sent. Six 4 MB phone photos trip that; at 500 KB apiece, twenty fit under 10 MB.
Drop the whole set in at once; each file gets its own 512,000-byte search. Download all (.zip) makes one attachment, but zipping JPGs saves nothing: the .zip weighs about the sum of the card sizes, so add those up before sending.
Photographed documents: guard the width, not the quality
Legibility of a photographed page comes from how many pixels cross each line of text, not from the JPG quality. About 2,000 px across a letter-size sheet keeps 10-point type crisp; at 1,000 px it smears. Because 500 KB nearly always resolves on quality alone, a 12 MP document photo keeps its full 3,000–4,000 px width here, and the text survives.
Set Max width (px) only if the portal names a pixel limit too, and never below 1,600 px for text. If it wants a PDF, compress here first, then make a one-page PDF on the JPG to PDF page; that page re-encodes at its own quality slider, so set it around 60–70 to stay under the cap.
Frequently asked questions
My photo is 420 KB. Should I still run it through this page?
No. The search picks the highest quality that fits under 512,000 bytes, so a file with room to spare usually comes out larger, and the card shows a + percentage instead of a saving. Attach the original.
The form says 500 KB but rejected a file tagged target met. Why?
This page targets 512,000 bytes, which Windows reports as 500 KB. Some upload scripts count a kilobyte as 1,000 bytes and enforce 500,000, so a result at 508,000 bytes fails there. Use the 300 KB page, or the general compressor, where you set the quality yourself and read the exact size on the card.
Will a photographed document still be readable at 500 KB?
Yes, as long as the width stays. Downscaling happens only when even the lowest quality cannot fit, which is rare at this target; a 12 MP page photo typically keeps its full width at a quality in the 60s to 80s, and legibility comes from pixels, not from that number. If you do set Max width (px), keep it at 1,600 or more for text.
How many pixels should a 500 KB photo have?
As many as the source has, if the file must keep its detail: a 12 MP photo fits under 500 KB with every pixel kept. If it will only ever be viewed on a screen, type 2000 in Max width (px): the same 512,000 bytes then cover a quarter of the pixels and the search stops in the 80s.
Can I drop in HEIC files straight from an iPhone?
Yes. On the first HEIC the browser fetches a decoder of about 1 MB; after that, HEIC is decoded on your own device and the preset writes a JPG, the format nearly every portal accepts. The photo itself is never sent anywhere.
Can I get a PNG under 500 KB here?
Only by shrinking it. PNG has no quality setting, so the page skips the quality search and reduces the dimensions in 15% steps until the file fits. For a photo, stay on JPG; keep PNG for a screenshot or graphic where smaller dimensions are acceptable.
Is 500 KB in WebP better than 500 KB in JPG?
Same byte budget, more detail in WebP. For a portal, though, keep JPG unless the accepted-formats list names WebP: many corporate uploaders only take JPG, PNG and PDF, and a rejected format costs another round trip.
Do I compress each photo separately for an email batch?
No. Drop them all in and generate once; each file is searched to 512,000 bytes on its own. Then save them one by one or as a .zip, remembering that the .zip is no smaller than the JPGs inside it.