UPSC Photo & Signature Compressor

Last reviewed: May 2026

The UPSC One Time Registration (OTR) portal accepts your photograph and signature only inside specific KB and dimension windows. Camera-roll photos are 20–50× too big; phone scans of a signature are usually 5× too big. Sukat compresses both files to the exact required range — in your browser, no upload — for UPSC CSE, IFS, NDA, CDS, CAPF, IES/ESE, and IFoS applications.

Compress UPSC photo & signature →
UPSC updates the OTR specification between exam cycles. The numbers below reflect the most recent published guidance, but always cross-check the current notification on upsc.gov.in before uploading.

UPSC OTR photo & signature requirements

FileFormatSize rangeDimensions
PhotographJPG / JPEG20 KB – 300 KB≈ 350 × 350 px (3.5 cm × 4.5 cm)
SignatureJPG / JPEG20 KB – 300 KB≈ 6 cm × 2 cm (140 × 60 px or larger)

UPSC additionally requires the photograph to be recent (within six months of upload), taken against a plain white or off-white background, with the candidate's full face clearly visible.

How to compress your UPSC photo & signature

  1. Upload both files. Drop your photograph and your signature scan onto Sukat. You can process them in the same session — there's no separate "photo tool" and "signature tool".
  2. Crop to UPSC ratios. For the photo, click Crop, pick 1:1 (square), and frame the head and shoulders. For the signature, crop tight to the ink so the bounding box doesn't carry blank paper. Set output format to JPEG for both.
  3. Set KB targets and download. Photo: target a value inside the 20–300 KB range — 80–150 KB is a safe sweet spot. Signature: 20 KB is the minimum the portal accepts and a clean target. Click Convert & Download; both files save locally.

Which UPSC exams use this format?

Once your photo and signature are uploaded to OTR, the same pair is reused across every UPSC exam application without re-uploading. The format applies to:

Many state PSCs (BPSC, KPSC, MPPSC, RPSC, UPPSC, TNPSC) and SSC use a similar specification. If your exam isn't UPSC, the same workflow applies — just match the KB ceiling on the relevant notification.

Why Sukat for UPSC uploads

Hits the KB target precisely. Generic "photo resizer" tools give you a quality slider and let you guess. Sukat reverses the problem — set a 20 KB or 100 KB ceiling, and the algorithm binary-searches for the highest quality that fits. You won't bounce off the portal three times because your file is 312 KB instead of 300.

Privacy that matches the document type. Your photograph and signature are sensitive identity assets. Sukat runs entirely in your browser — your files never reach a server. You can confirm by switching to airplane mode after the page loads; the tool keeps working because there's no network call.

Built-in background fix. If your photo has a busy background — taken at home, near a window, against a pattern — open Remove Background inside Sukat. It runs an AI segmentation model in your browser, isolates you, and offers a white background colour picker that matches the UPSC requirement exactly.

Hindi UI for first-language users. Sukat is available in 10 languages including Hindi. Most online compressors are English-only — Sukat lets you work in your first language end-to-end.

Phone-first. Most candidates fill out OTR on their phone. Sukat works on iPhone Safari and Android Chrome with the same drop / paste / download flow. No "upgrade for mobile" upsell.

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FAQ

What are the UPSC photo and signature size limits exactly?

UPSC's OTR portal commonly specifies a JPG photograph between 20 KB and 300 KB at roughly 350 × 350 pixels, and a JPG signature between 20 KB and 300 KB. Older notifications used a tighter 20 KB lower bound for both. Specifications change between cycles — always verify the current notification on upsc.gov.in before submitting.

Can I use the same photo for CSE, IFS, NDA, CDS, and CAPF?

Yes. UPSC's OTR system stores one photograph and one signature pair across exam cycles, so a correctly sized pair works for CSE, IFS, NDA, CDS, CAPF, IES/ESE, and IFoS without re-uploading. UPSC requires the photograph to be reasonably recent — within six months per the standing instructions — so refresh it annually.

Does Sukat strip EXIF and location metadata from the photo?

Yes. Re-encoding through the Canvas API drops EXIF, GPS coordinates, and depth data. For an exam application that's almost always desirable — you don't want geolocation on an identity document.

Is my photo or signature uploaded anywhere?

No. Sukat runs entirely in your browser — your photo, signature, and any other documents you process stay on your device. Switch to airplane mode after the page loads to verify; compression still works because there's no network call.

My photo background isn't white — can I fix it?

Yes. Click Remove Background; Sukat segments the subject in your browser, then opens a colour picker. Pick white, apply, and compress. UPSC's portal expects plain white or off-white, and this is the cleanest way to comply if you couldn't shoot against one.

Can I do all of this on my phone?

Yes. Sukat works on iPhone Safari and Android Chrome. Drop or pick photos from your camera roll, set the targets, download. The output saves to your Files app on iOS or Downloads folder on Android, ready to upload to the OTR portal.

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