Two images, two different jobs
The photograph must show your face clearly against a plain light background, cropped head and shoulders, looking straight at the camera. The signature must be signed on white paper in black or dark blue ink and photographed or scanned so the strokes are solid, not grey.
They compress very differently. A signature is mostly white with thin dark lines, which encoders handle extremely cheaply, so it reaches any sensible limit without effort. A photograph is expensive by comparison and is where the work goes.
Getting the photograph to fit
Crop first, tightly, so the head and shoulders fill the frame. This is the single most effective step: it removes background that was consuming most of the file and simultaneously satisfies the composition the form wants.
Then set a maximum width of around seven hundred pixels and let the target search find the quality. Keep the format as JPEG — application portals commonly accept JPEG only and reject WebP without explaining why.
Check the current requirement on the portal
NSDL and UTIITSL each publish their own guidelines, and the accepted dimensions and maximum file size are revised from time to time. Read the instructions on the form you are actually filling rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere, including here — a rejected application costs far more time than a minute of checking.
Questions
- My PAN application keeps rejecting the photograph. What is wrong?
- Check every stated condition rather than only the file size. The usual causes are pixel dimensions outside the accepted range, a format other than JPEG, a background that is patterned or dark, or a photograph cropped so loosely that the face is too small within the frame. Cropping tightly and re-exporting solves most rejections.
- How should I capture the signature?
- Sign on unlined white paper with a black or dark blue pen, then photograph it in even daylight from directly above so the paper is not skewed, or scan it. Crop close to the signature itself. Avoid a shadow across the paper — it becomes a grey band that survives compression and makes the strokes look broken.
- Is it safe to prepare identity documents with an online tool?
- With this one, yes, because nothing is uploaded. The compression runs inside your browser and the file never reaches a server, so there is no stored copy of your photograph or signature anywhere. You can verify that by opening the network tab in your browser while you compress.
- Can I use a photo taken on my phone?
- Yes, provided it looks like a passport photograph rather than a selfie. Stand in front of a plain light wall in even indoor daylight, have someone else take it from about a metre away at eye level, and avoid direct flash. Then crop to head and shoulders before compressing.