Why is my file too large to upload?
The form has a size limit, and your file is over it. Phone cameras are built to make large, detailed pictures. Forms are built to store millions of small ones. The two rarely agree.
What makes a file heavy
- Too many pixels. A phone photo is often 4,000 pixels wide. A form photo needs a few hundred.
- High quality setting. Cameras save at near top quality, which costs a lot of space for detail nobody will see on a form.
- Scanned PDFs. Each page of a scanned PDF is a full picture. Ten pages can easily pass 10 MB.
- PNG for a photo. PNG keeps every dot exactly, so a photo saved as PNG is several times heavier than the same photo as JPG.
Fixes that cause new problems
- Taking a screenshot of the photo. It changes the shape, adds bars and is often saved as a heavy PNG.
- Sending it through a chat app. The app picks the size, not you, and it may still be over the limit.
- Cropping until it fits. You lose parts of the picture the form needs.
The safe fix
Make the picture smaller in pixels first, then lower the quality only as far as needed. That is what Shrink files does: you choose the limit, and it keeps the best quality that fits under it. For a document, compress the PDF the same way.
If the form gives exact pixels or a smallest size as well, use Fit a form's rules.
Tools for this
More guides
- KB, pixels and DPI, explainedWhat each number on a form means, with a cm to pixels table.
- JPG, JPEG, PNG and HEICWhich file type a form wants, and what to do with iPhone photos.
- Passport photo at homeLight, distance and background, so the photo is not rejected.
- Scan documents with a phoneA sharp, flat, small scan without a scanner.
- Sign a PDF without printingDraw your signature and place it on the page.
- Share an ID card copy safelyMark it, hide what is not needed, and send less.