How to convert JPG to PDF under 100 KB (or 200 KB)
Updated
Contents
To turn a JPG into a PDF under 100 KB, open JPG to PDF, add the image, and under “Max file size” choose 100 KB — or 200 KB, 500 KB, or 1 MB, or “Custom” for a number of KB of your own. Then press Create PDF. If the PDF comes out bigger than your limit, your browser saves the image again at a lower quality and a smaller pixel size, step by step, and keeps the sharpest version that fits.
Application portals for jobs, exams and visas often limit the PDF of a photo, a signature or a certificate scan at a size like this. A single phone photo is usually several times too big, and a scan of one page often is too, so the limit is what does the work here.
It all happens in your browser tab: the image is not sent to pdf.xyz, and the PDF is saved straight to your device. PNG to PDF has the same setting for PNG images.
Step by step
- 1Open the JPG to PDF tool and drop your JPG on the box at the top of the page, or click it to pick one. Add more images if the form wants them in one PDF; each becomes a page.
- 2Choose the Page size, Orientation and Margin, or keep the ones shown. They set the page, not the file size.
- 3Under “Max file size”, choose 100 KB, 200 KB, 500 KB, or 1 MB, or choose “Custom” and type a whole number of KB.
- 4Press Create PDF. With a limit, it can take a few seconds longer, because each step down is another PDF made and measured.
- 5Read the line on the result. “Now 93.0 KB — under your 100 KB limit.” means it fits: press Download PDF.
- 6If the line says the PDF is above your limit, take out an image. With more than one image, you can also choose One PDF per image (ZIP) under Output, so that each image gets a PDF, and a limit, of its own.
How the limit is reached
The PDF is made first exactly as it would be with “No limit”. If that is already at or under your limit, it is what you get, untouched. If not, the images are saved again as JPEGs, starting at 85% quality and full size and stepping down, as far as 50% quality and 18% of their width. The long side of an image is never made shorter than 320 pixels.
After each step the whole PDF is made again and measured, and the first one at or under the limit is the one you get: the sharpest version that fits. A lower setting usually makes a smaller file, but not always, so nothing is assumed — every PDF is measured. An image whose saved-again copy would be bigger than the original keeps its original. At most 8 versions are made, within about 60 seconds; if none fits, you get the smallest one that was made, and a line saying it is above your limit.
What saving the image again changes
A smaller file means fewer pixels and stronger compression, so a saved-again photo looks softer, and fine print on a scanned certificate can blur. Check the PDF before you send it in; if the text is hard to read, try the largest limit the form allows.
What the image file carried beside its pixels, such as the camera details, the date and any location, is not kept in a saved-again image. A PNG with transparent areas becomes a JPEG, which has none, so those areas are filled with white — the colour of the page, so it looks the same — and the line on the result says so.
How big is 100 KB, here and on the form
On this page 1 KB is 1,024 bytes, so a 100 KB limit means at most 102,400 bytes — the same unit every size on the page is shown in. Some application portals count 1 KB as 1,000 bytes instead. If yours does, and is strict, choose “Custom” and enter 97 KB, which is under 100,000 bytes.
The PDF usually comes back a little under your limit rather than exactly on it, because the first version that fits is the one kept.
Common questions
Can I convert a JPG to a PDF of exactly 100 KB?
To at most that size, not to exactly it. You get the sharpest version at or under your limit, so the PDF usually comes back a little smaller than the number you chose.
Why is my PDF still above the limit?
Because even the smallest version made was too big. That happens with many images in one PDF, or with a limit far below what a page can hold. Take out an image; with more than one image, One PDF per image (ZIP) applies the limit to each image's PDF on its own.
Will my photo look worse?
Only if it has to. A PDF that already fits keeps the photo exactly as it was. One that does not is made with a softer, smaller copy of the photo, the sharpest that fits.
Is my photo sent to a server?
No. The image is shrunk and the PDF is made in your browser tab; the file is not sent to pdf.xyz.
How large can my image be?
Up to 25 MB per image.