PixKB exists because of a specific, maddening moment: you're filling out an application form for a job portal, a visa or a university, and the upload fails. "File too large." "Invalid dimensions." "Minimum size not met." The deadline is tonight, the error message explains nothing, and the tools you find either upload your passport photo to someone else's server or hide the one setting you need.
PixKB gets a file to the exact size and format a form asks for, on your own device. It is free, needs no account, and adds no watermark.
What PixKB does
- Images: compress to an exact KB limit, raise a file to a minimum size, resize in cm, mm, inches or pixels, and one-tap presets for passport, visa and exam-form photos and signatures.
- PDFs: compress a PDF to a KB limit while keeping text selectable, merge PDFs and photos, turn photos into a PDF, and edit a PDF: add text, sign, fill forms and truly redact.
- Converting: HEIC, AVIF, WebP, PNG, ICO and PDF.
- Guides that explain the rules behind the errors: why pixels don't convert to KB, what the 1,000 vs 1,024 rule means, and why a photo gets rejected.
Your files stay on your device
Every tool runs inside your browser using code served from this site. Your photos and documents are never uploaded, because there is no server that receives them. You can check this yourself in a minute with your browser's network panel or by switching to airplane mode: how to verify it. Once a tool has loaded you can save it for offline use.
How we check photo and document specs
A preset or spec table is only as good as its source. Our rules:
- We read the official page or PDF directly (the government, embassy or exam board), not another website's summary, and we record the link and the date we checked it.
- A preset is marked "Verified" only when the official source states every rule the preset checks. Where a source gives a range (for example "600×600 to 1200×1200 pixels"), the preset picks a size inside it. Where the source leaves something out, we say so instead of guessing.
- If a tool can't meet an official rule, we say that too. For example, Canada's immigration department treats cropping a photo as altering it, so we removed our Canada PR preset rather than offer one that crops. Australian passport photos must be printed by a photographer, so that page explains the rules and does not offer a tool.
- Portals change their rules without notice. Our spec pages name their official sources, most with a direct link under "Official sources", and show when they were last updated. We act on reported changes. Always confirm against the official instructions before you submit.
How we test the tools
Before every update goes live, we run an automated check that opens every page on a 360 px phone screen and a desktop screen, runs the tools on real and generated test files (phone photos, signatures, document photos, scanned and multi-page PDFs), and confirms that output sizes meet their targets and that no request carries file data off the device. After each release, the changed pages are checked again on the live site. Some formats are tested only with generated files so far; for example, we have not yet tested a HEIC photo taken on a real iPhone. The size figures in our guides come from our own measured tests, with the test conditions stated.
What PixKB won't do
PixKB is for preparing your own photos and documents. We don't build features for forging or altering documents such as IDs, certificates, bank statements or receipts, and we don't publish content that helps anyone do that. See the terms of use.
How the site is funded
PixKB is free to use. It will be funded by advertising (no ads run yet), which we will keep away from the tools themselves. It measures visits with Google Analytics, which never receives your files, their names or their contents; tool events carry only the page, the mode used and a rough size range such as "100 KB–1 MB". The details are in the privacy policy. The open-source software PixKB is built with is listed on the licenses page.
Independent
PixKB is an independent site. It is not affiliated with any government, embassy, exam board or upload portal, and it doesn't use their logos.
Found a problem or a changed spec? Write to info@pixkb.com or see the contact page.