An exam portal checks your photo twice. First, a computer checks the file as you upload it: its size in KB, its format and sometimes its pixels. Later, a person may look at the picture itself. Is the face clear? Can the signature be read? A file can pass the first check and still fail the second, sometimes weeks after you apply.
The twelve mistakes below cover both checks, with the quickest fix for each. Keep your notification open while you read: rules change between recruitment cycles, and the notification you apply under has the final word. The size chart lists the numbers we last checked for every exam we cover.
Problems the portal catches at once
1. Wrong pixel size
Some boards fix the width and height. IBPS, for example, asks for a 200×230 px photo and a 140×60 px signature, while a phone photo is thousands of pixels wide. Other boards, such as UPSC and NTA, give no pixel size and check only the KB range.
Fix: open the photo resizer (or the signature, thumb impression or declaration page) and choose your exam in step 1. The tool sets the pixels. If your notification gives other numbers, type them under More options › Size rules.
2. Over or under the KB limit
The portal checks the file size the moment you upload. Every exam gives a KB range, for example 20–50 KB for the IBPS photo or 30–49 KB for the Railways (RRB) signature. A file 1 KB over the maximum is refused, and so is a file under the minimum: an over-squeezed file is as wrong as a huge one.
Fix: the document pages make a file inside the range of the exam you pick whenever they can, and tell you when they can’t. If it would come out under the minimum, the tool adds invisible padding without changing the picture. For any other form, use compress image to KB. After you download, tap Check the actual file to see the real size of what you will upload.
3. The file ending: .jpg or .jpeg
JPG and JPEG are one format with two spellings of the ending. Most portals take both, but some upload boxes list only one. A PNG renamed to “.jpg” is still a PNG inside, and many phones, iPhones especially, save photos as HEIC, which exam portals rarely take.
Fix: every file the signature resizer and the other document pages make is a real JPG. Under the preview, pick .jpg or .jpeg to match your form before you download. The tool remembers your choice.
4. A screenshot instead of the original
A screenshot is a picture of your phone’s screen, not your photo. It has the screen’s shape, may show bits of the gallery app, and is less sharp, because the photo was already shrunk to fit the screen.
Fix: tap Choose photo on the photo resizer and pick the original from your gallery. The Your original file box under the preview shows its pixels, size and format, so you can tell if it is a small copy.
Problems a person spots later
5. A blurry photo that was made bigger
A picture smaller than the size the form wants has to be stretched up, and it looks soft. This often happens with photos forwarded on chat apps, which shrink them, or with a face cut out of a group photo.
Fix: start from the largest, sharpest photo you have. The photo resizer warns you when your photo is smaller than the size it needs. Sharpen details helps a slightly soft photo, but no tool can add detail that was never there, so for a tiny one, take a new photo.
6. A stretched or squashed face
Forcing a tall phone photo into a fixed box such as 200×230 px without cropping makes the face look wider or thinner than it really is.
Fix: the photo resizer never stretches. It crops to fill the box, and you can zoom and drag to choose what stays in. Signatures and other documents are fitted inside, with white filling the space.
7. A dark or grey background
IBPS and SBI PO ask for a light colour, preferably white, and UPSC and NTA ask for white. A photo taken indoors at night comes out yellow or grey, and a curtain behind you makes it worse. Paper photographed in room light looks grey, not white.
Fix: stand against a plain light wall, facing a window in daylight. If the photo is still dark, tick Fix dim lighting on the photo resizer. For a signature, thumb impression or declaration, Clean background to pure white whitens the paper; the tool ticks it when it sees grey paper.
8. The face is too small
UPSC asks for your face to cover about 75% of the photo, and the NTA bulletins for NEET and JEE Main ask for about 80%. A full-length photo, or one with lots of wall above your head, does not meet this, and a small face is hard to match with you at the exam centre.
Fix: on the photo resizer, zoom in and drag so your face fills the frame. Tick Show face guide for an outline of where the face should sit; it only shows on screen and is never saved in the file.
9. A sideways photo
Some apps ignore which way up you held the phone. Signatures suffer most: you hold the phone upright over a wide signature, and the picture comes out turned on its side.
Fix: use the rotate buttons next to Download. The signature resizer also spots a tall photo going into a wide signature box, says Your picture looks sideways and offers Rotate it.
10. Shadows
Leaning over the paper puts the shadow of your head and phone on it, like a dirty grey patch. On a face, strong light from one side leaves half of it dark.
Fix: hold the phone straight above the paper, a little higher, in daylight; our guide to photographing a signature shows how. Clean background to pure white on the signature resizer removes light shadows from paper. For a face, turn towards a window.
11. A signature in capital letters
This is a board’s rule, so no tool can fix it. IBPS and SBI PO do not accept signatures in CAPITAL letters, and the Railways (RRB) notice asks for running handwriting, not block or capital letters. If you usually sign in capitals, check what your notification allows.
Fix: sign again in your normal running hand, the way you will sign at the exam centre, then make the file with the signature resizer.
12. Blue ink where black is asked
UPSC asks for black ink, and so do IBPS and SBI PO for the signature and the handwritten declaration. For the thumb impression, IBPS and SBI PO allow black or blue. Blue is also lighter than black, so thin blue lines can look faint in a small file.
Fix: the safest fix is to sign again with a black pen. If you cannot, tick Make ink pure black on the signature resizer; it turns blue strokes black and keeps the paper white.
A quick check before you upload
- The exam chosen in step 1 is the one whose form you are filling.
- The file size the tool shows is inside the KB range in your notification.
- When you zoom into the preview, the face or signature is clear.
- You upload the file you downloaded, not a screenshot or a copy edited later.
- The photo goes in the photo box and the signature in the signature box.
If the portal still says no, read its message slowly. Most name the rule that failed: size, dimensions or format. Compare that rule with your notification, change it under Size rules if needed, and make the file again. If our numbers are out of date, use the Numbers changed? Tell us link in the tool or the contact page.