Exam photo and signature uploads: SSC, UPSC, IBPS and BCS

What a KB means to a portal

None of the notices we read says whether a KB is 1,000 bytes or 1,024 bytes. Our compressor counts 1,000 bytes as one KB. A file passes under both readings when it has at least the minimum times 1,024 bytes and at most the maximum times 1,000 bytes.

When our compressor reports a target as met, the file is at or under the target times 1,000 bytes, so typing the maximum keeps it under the cap in both readings. In our runs the closest in-range file landed 80 bytes under a cap. For more room, type a lower target, as long as the result stays above the minimum. Your file manager can show the exact size in bytes; check that number, not a rounded KB.

How to check a file with our tools

When the notice gives a pixel size, change the shape first, then the pixels, then the bytes. Each tool makes a new file: download it and open that file in the next tool. Your images never leave your device.

1. In Crop, choose Free and type a Width and Height in the proportions of the pixel size the notice gives. Place the box over the face or the ink.
2. In Resize, choose Pixels, untick Keep aspect ratio and type the exact width and height. The crop already has the right shape, so nothing is stretched.
3. In Compress, type the maximum KB in Target size and untick Allow shrinking, so the pixels stay as they are. Press Compress image.
4. Download the file and check its size in bytes in your file manager; the page shows a rounded KB. The compressor checks only the maximum and reports the target as met even when the file is below the portal's minimum, so compare the bytes with the table above yourself.

If the file is below the minimum, the compressor cannot help: it starts at quality 0.92 and only goes down. The converter can make a bigger file at the same pixels. Choose JPG under Save as and move Encoding quality to 100. The sections below say where that worked in our tests and where it did not.

SSC: the signature is the only file

What applicants run into

One applicant asked why the form said "Photograph/Signature is missing" after uploading files with the right dimensions (Quora question, user report). Answers on the same site still repeat an older, smaller signature limit and say that squeezing a signature down to it leaves the ink blurry (Quora answer, user report). Another answer warns that a file right at the cap might count as over, depending on how the portal counts a KB (Quora answer, user report).

What the notices say

From SSC Notice: Combined Graduate Level Examination, 2026, 2026-05-21:

• Photo: "The application module has been designed to capture a photograph of the candidate filling up the application form."
• Photo of a photo: "In no case should the candidate capture the photographs of his/her pre-existing photograph. All such applications where the photographs of his/her pre-existing photograph is captured will be rejected."
• Signature file and size: "9.6 Candidates are required to upload the scanned signature in JPEG/JPG format (10 to 20 KB). Image dimension of the signature should be about 6.0 cm (width) x 2.0 cm (height)."
• Signature size in the annexure: "signature should be about 4.0 cm (Width) x 2.0 cm (Height)."

From SSC Notice: Combined Higher Secondary (10+2) Level Examination, 2026, 2026-09-07:

• Signature, later notice: "9.6 Candidates are required to upload the scanned signature in JPEG/JPG format (10 to 20 KB). Image dimension of the signature should be about 6.0 cm (width) x 2.0 cm (height)."
• Signature size in its annexure: "should be about 4.0 cm (width) x 2.0 cm (height). Applications with illegible/ blurred"

From SSC Notice: Constable (GD) ... Examination, 2026, 2025-12-01:

• Resolution: "b. Image Dimension: About 6.0 cm (width) X 2.0 cm (height) at a resolution of 300 DPI."

The same rule is in: SSC Notice: Stenographer Grade 'C' & 'D' Examination, 2026 (2026-04-24), SSC Notice: Constable (GD) ... Examination, 2026 (2025-12-01) and SSC Notice: Multi-Tasking (Non-Technical) Staff and Havaldar Examination, 2025 (2025-06-26).

So SSC has no photo file to compress: the application takes your photo live with the camera. The signature is a file. Each notice gives one size in the main text, 6.0 × 2.0 cm, and another in its annexure, 4.0 × 2.0 cm, and does not say which one wins. No notice gives a pixel size. At the 300 DPI the GD notice names, the two sizes come to 709 × 236 px and 472 × 236 px; that is our arithmetic, not an SSC number.

Settings we used

• Crop: Free, proportions 709 × 236 (or 472 × 236 for the annexure size).
• Resize: 709 × 236 (or 472 × 236), Keep aspect ratio off.
• Compress: Target size 20, Allow shrinking off.

What we measured

SSC signature in 4 styles, compressed to 20 KB

Source: our test on 2026-11-10 (harness eacd79c, site code eacd79c), headless Chromium 145 on a desktop Mac, 6 CC0 portrait photos and 16 test documents we generated (signatures, thumb impressions and declarations drawn by code, not real people's). Similarity is our own 8×8-block luma score: 1.000 means no visible change. How we test

At 472 × 236 px our thin-pen signature came out at 10,200 bytes. That passes if the portal counts 1,000 bytes as a KB and fails if it counts 1,024. Thin strokes on white leave little for the compressor to store, so the file stays small even at quality 0.92.

We also tested the older limit those answers repeat, a target of 12 KB at 709 × 236 px. All 4 files landed in range, but the noisy scan needed quality 0.58 instead of 0.78, and our similarity score for it fell from 0.857 to 0.817. That is the blur the answers describe. The current notices allow up to 20 KB.

If your file fails

Use the main-text size, 709 × 236 px: all 4 of our styles landed in range there. If you use the annexure size and your file is under 10,240 bytes, sign with a thicker pen: at that size our thick-marker signature came out at 12,351 bytes, in range.

Check the current notice for your exam on the SSC website.

UPSC: photo, live photo and signature

What applicants run into

One applicant wrote that the Part II form kept rejecting the scanned photo (Quora question, user report). A wrong file can cost the application: a news report describes a candidate whose candidature was cancelled for an incorrect photo and signature, and whose plea the Delhi High Court dismissed (Times of India, news report).

What UPSC says

From UPSC: Instructions for Uploading the Photo & Signature, no date printed; read 2026-11-09; archived: Wayback Machine copy, captured 2026-07-29:

• Photo file: "Upload a photo named photo in jpg format with a file size between 20KB and 200KB."
• Face: "This means that the face must cover at least 75% of the area in the photo."
• Background: "Photo background shall be plain white."
• Live photo: "Capture of live photograph shall be mandatory for submission of the application for any examination."
• Signature file: "i. File size: 20 KB – 100 KB"
• Signature pixels: "ii. Image dimensions: 350 - 500 pixels"
• What to sign: "Candidate should sign their own signature three times vertically (one below the other) on a plain white paper using a black ink."

From UPSC Examination Notice No. 02/2027-ENGG: Engineering Services Examination, 2027, 2026-09-16:

• Engineering Services (ESE) notice: "each file should not exceed 300 KB each and must not be less than 20 KB in size for the photograph and signature."

Archived means the original link did not open when we checked, so we read the copy the Wayback Machine had saved. The link to the original is kept so you can try it again.

The portal instructions and the newer ESE notice disagree on the cap. The instructions allow up to 200 KB for the photo and 100 KB for the signature; the ESE notice allows 300 KB for both. Follow the document for your own exam. The instructions give 350 to 500 pixels for the signature without saying whether that is the width, the height or both, and they give no pixel size for the photo.

The instructions file is online again on the UPSC portal at a new address: current copy. On 2026-11-10 it was the same file, byte for byte, as the archived copy.

Settings we used

• Photo: crop so your face fills most of the picture, then Compress: Target size 200, Allow shrinking on, because UPSC sets no pixel size for the photo.
• Signature: Crop with Free in the proportions 400 × 500, Resize to 400 × 500 with Keep aspect ratio off, then Compress: Target size 100, Allow shrinking off. We chose 400 × 500 px because both sides fall inside the stated range and signatures stacked one below the other make a tall image.

What we measured

UPSC photo and signature

Source: our test on 2026-11-10 (harness eacd79c, site code eacd79c), headless Chromium 145 on a desktop Mac, 6 CC0 portrait photos and 16 test documents we generated (signatures, thumb impressions and declarations drawn by code, not real people's). Similarity is our own 8×8-block luma score: 1.000 means no visible change. How we test

Every file landed in range. With Allow shrinking on, the compressor lowers the quality before it shrinks the picture, so a large photo can reach the cap at a low quality. The lowest quality it chose was 0.43, and our similarity score for that photo fell to 0.893. Our thin-pen signature landed only 197 bytes above the minimum of 20,480 bytes.

If your file fails

If a photo looks soft at the cap, resize it to fewer pixels before compressing; we did not measure how much that helps. If a signature is under the minimum, sign with a thicker pen: our thick-marker file came out at 25,679 bytes against 20,677 for the thin pen. Compressing cannot add bytes.

Check the notice for your exam on the UPSC website and the instructions on the application portal.

IBPS: minimums our compressor cannot reach

What applicants run into

One candidate asked why their signature showed up blurred and barely visible on the IBPS clerk form (Quora question, user report). Another said the final IBPS PO form showed the signature very small (Quora question, user report). People also ask how to make a photo bigger in KB to reach a minimum (Quora question, user report), and an answer on Photography Stack Exchange says to save it again at a higher quality setting (Stack Exchange question, user report).

What the IBPS notice says

From IBPS Notification CRP PO/MT-XVI, 2026-07-01; archived: Wayback Machine copy, captured 2026-07-01:

• Photo pixels: "Dimensions 200 x 230 pixels (preferred)."
• Photo file: "Size of file should be between 20kb–50 kb."
• Signature pixels: "Dimensions 140 x 60 pixels (preferred)."
• Signature file: "Size of file should be between 10kb – 20kb."
• Left thumb impression: "Dimensions: 240 x 240 pixels in 200 DPI (Preferred for required quality) i.e. 3 cm * 3 cm (Width * Height)."
• Thumb file: "File Size: 20 KB – 50 KB."
• Handwritten declaration: "Dimensions: 800 x 400 pixels in 200 DPI (Preferred for required quality) i.e. 10 cm * 5 cm (Width * Height)"
• Declaration file: "File Size: 50 KB – 100 KB"
• Scanning and format: "Set the scanner resolution to a minimum of 200 dpi (dots per inch). ... The image file should be JPG or JPEG format."
• Live photo: "In addition to the above photograph, candidates will also be required to capture and upload their live photograph either by using webcam or mobile phone."

Archived means the original link did not open when we checked, so we read the copy the Wayback Machine had saved. The link to the original is kept so you can try it again.

The same sizes are in these IBPS notices:

• IBPS Notification CRP SPL-XVI (Specialist Officers, Vacancies 2027-28), 2026-07-01; archived: Wayback Machine copy, captured 2026-07-01
• IBPS Notification CRP CSA-XVI (Customer Service Associates, Vacancies 2027-28), 2026-08-01; archived: Wayback Machine copy, captured 2026-08-01
• IBPS CRP RRBs-XV (Officers Scale I-III and Office Assistants), revised notification, 2026-09-01; archived: Wayback Machine copy, captured 2026-10-21

Every pixel size is marked "preferred". The notice asks for JPG or JPEG, so saving as PNG is no way around a minimum.

Settings we used

• Photo: Crop with Free in the proportions 200 × 230, Resize to 200 × 230, then the converter: Save as JPG, Encoding quality 100.
• Left thumb impression: Crop with Free in the proportions 240 × 240, Resize to 240 × 240, then the converter: Save as JPG, Encoding quality 100.
• Declaration: Crop with Free in the proportions 800 × 400, Resize to 800 × 400, then Compress: Target size 100, Allow shrinking off.
• Signature: see the limit below.

What we measured

IBPS uploads at the notice's pixel sizes

Source: our test on 2026-11-10 (harness eacd79c, site code eacd79c), headless Chromium 145 on a desktop Mac, 6 CC0 portrait photos and 16 test documents we generated (signatures, thumb impressions and declarations drawn by code, not real people's). How we test

At the photo, thumb and signature sizes the compressor's first try, at quality 0.92, is already below the minimum, and it never tries a higher quality. The median photo came out at 12,820 bytes against a minimum of 20,480. The converter at quality 100 brought 4 of 6 photos and 4 of 4 thumb impressions into range. The other 2 photos stayed below the minimum even at quality 100, and nothing on this site adds more bytes at that pixel size.

The declaration went the other way. The compressor landed 3 of 4 styles in range, and quality 100 made 3 of them too big. Our thin-pen declaration failed both ways: 46,596 bytes with the compressor and 129,891 bytes with the converter. We did not measure the quality settings in between.

The signature at 140 × 60 px

We could not reach the minimum of 10,240 bytes at 140 × 60 px with any setting on this site. The largest file we made was 9,447 bytes, and that was a PNG, which IBPS does not accept. As JPG the largest was 6,200 bytes. The compressor kept its top quality for every style at this size: the low pixel count is what makes the signature look small and coarse on the form.

The notice says "Dimensions 140 x 60 pixels (preferred)." and names no other size. We also measured larger pixel sizes to see what they would take. We do not know whether the IBPS portal accepts them.

Signature at larger pixel sizes (not an IBPS size)

Source: our test on 2026-11-10 (harness eacd79c, site code eacd79c), headless Chromium 145 on a desktop Mac, 6 CC0 portrait photos and 16 test documents we generated (signatures, thumb impressions and declarations drawn by code, not real people's). How we test

If your file fails

For the photo and the thumb impression, use the converter at quality 100 after resizing. If the result is still below the minimum, our tools cannot raise it further at that pixel size. For the signature at 140 × 60 px our tools have no fix. Check the current notice in case the signature rule has changed.

IBPS posts each notice on its website.

BCS: fixed pixels and a cap, no minimum

What applicants run into

News reports about recent BCS circulars give the signature size wrongly: one swaps the width and height, and another prints a different height (Prothom Alo and Prothom Alo, press reports). Use the sizes on the application site itself.

What the application site says

From Bangladesh Public Service Commission: 51st BCS (Special) Examination 2026, Help, no date printed; read 2026-11-09:

• Photo pixels: "Photo dimensions are 300 X 300 pixels (Width X Height)."
• Photo file: "The file size is less than 100 kbytes."
• Photo colour: "Make sure that the picture is in colour. Black & White, Monochrome, Grayscale, Face too Close or too distance, Blurred, Too light or dark, Obscured, Uncropped or any image other than photo will not be accepted."
• Signature pixels: "Dimensions of signature are 300 x 80 pixels (Width X Height)."
• Signature file: "Ensure that the size of the scanned image is not more than 60kb."

The same text is on the help pages of earlier rounds: BCS 50 and BCS 49.

The help page names no file format. Our tools save these as JPG.

Settings we used

• Photo: Crop with Free in the proportions 300 × 300, Resize to 300 × 300, then Compress: Target size 100, Allow shrinking off.
• Signature: Crop with Free in the proportions 300 × 80, Resize to 300 × 80, then Compress: Target size 60, Allow shrinking off.

What we measured

BCS photo and signature

Source: our test on 2026-11-10 (harness eacd79c, site code eacd79c), headless Chromium 145 on a desktop Mac, 6 CC0 portrait photos and 16 test documents we generated (signatures, thumb impressions and declarations drawn by code, not real people's). How we test

BCS sets no minimum, so the compressor's first try, at quality 0.92, was enough every time. The largest photo was 27,125 bytes and the largest signature 5,802 bytes, far below the caps.

If your file fails

The photo cap reads "less than" 100 KB. Our 100 KB target allows a file of exactly 100,000 bytes, so if a photo ever lands right at the cap, type a lower target. If the site refuses the pixel size, check that the width and height are the right way round.

The current rules are on the BPSC application site's help page. The commission's own site is bpsc.gov.bd.

What our tests cover

We ran each upload as a chain of the site's own crop, resize, compress and convert code, the same code the tool pages run. The photos are CC0 portraits. The signatures, thumb impressions and declarations were drawn by code in 4 styles, so no real person's signature is in the set. "In range" means our byte check under both KB readings. We did not upload anything to an exam portal, and a portal can still refuse a file that passes our byte check.

We ran headless Chromium only, on one desktop computer. Crops were centred; with a real photo you may need to move the box to frame your face. More on our method is on the About page.

For pixel and KB questions outside exams, see the image size guide.

Sources

Official sources are the commissions' own notices and help pages. User reports are questions and answers from applicants on public sites; we use them only to describe a problem, never for a rule.

Official

• official: SSC Notice: Combined Graduate Level Examination, 2026, 2026-05-21
• official: SSC Notice: Combined Higher Secondary (10+2) Level Examination, 2026, 2026-09-07
• official: SSC Notice: Constable (GD) ... Examination, 2026, 2025-12-01
• official: SSC Notice: Stenographer Grade 'C' & 'D' Examination, 2026, 2026-04-24
• official: SSC Notice: Multi-Tasking (Non-Technical) Staff and Havaldar Examination, 2025, 2025-06-26
• official, archived: UPSC: Instructions for Uploading the Photo & Signature, no date printed; read 2026-11-09; archived: Wayback Machine copy, captured 2026-07-29
• official: UPSC Examination Notice No. 02/2027-ENGG: Engineering Services Examination, 2027, 2026-09-16
• official, archived: IBPS Notification CRP PO/MT-XVI, 2026-07-01; archived: Wayback Machine copy, captured 2026-07-01
• official: Bangladesh Public Service Commission: 51st BCS (Special) Examination 2026, Help, no date printed; read 2026-11-09
• official, archived: IBPS Notification CRP SPL-XVI (Specialist Officers, Vacancies 2027-28), 2026-07-01; archived: Wayback Machine copy, captured 2026-07-01
• official, archived: IBPS Notification CRP CSA-XVI (Customer Service Associates, Vacancies 2027-28), 2026-08-01; archived: Wayback Machine copy, captured 2026-08-01
• official, archived: IBPS CRP RRBs-XV (Officers Scale I-III and Office Assistants), revised notification, 2026-09-01; archived: Wayback Machine copy, captured 2026-10-21
• official: BPSC help page, BCS 50
• official: BPSC help page, BCS 49
• official: UPSC: Instructions for Uploading the Photo & Signature (current copy at the new portal address), no date printed; read 2026-11-10

User, news and press reports

• user report: Quora: "Photograph/Signature is missing" on the SSC CGL form
• user report: Quora: the older, smaller SSC signature limit
• user report: Quora: an SSC signature right at the cap
• user report: Quora: the UPSC Part II form rejects a scanned photo
• news report: Times of India: plea over an incorrect UPSC photo and signature dismissed
• user report: Quora: a blurred signature on the IBPS clerk form
• user report: Quora: a small signature on the IBPS PO form
• user report: Quora: how to increase the KB of a photo
• user report: Photography Stack Exchange: increase a photo's file size without resizing
• press report: Prothom Alo: BCS application sizes (first report)
• press report: Prothom Alo: BCS application sizes (second report)