I’m trying to get a scanned ID form down to under 80KB because the government application portal rejects anything bigger, and I’m stuck on my phone with no laptop nearby. The file is only three pages but it’s already about 4MB and the upload keeps failing. Does anyone know if it’s realistic to hit that size without the text becoming unreadable?
That size limit is annoying, especially on a phone. Honestly, 80KB for three scanned pages is very tight and may hurt readability unless you rescan in black and white. I would rescan the paper with your phone’s default scanner at a lower quality, because the share or print option may not get it that small.
Honest answer: 80KB for three scanned pages is brutal, text will suffer. Better bet is re-scanning in black and white at low dpi instead of squashing the color scan, that shrinks it way more. iLovePDF’s mobile app has an extreme compression mode worth a shot. Check it stays readible before submitting. What phone are you on?
80KB for three scanned pages is very tight, so try rescanning in greyscale at 100-150 dpi, cropping the edges, then export as a low-quality PDF. Avoid repeatedly compressing the 4MB file, as the text usually turns mushy; if it still fails, check whether the portal accepts separate JPG pages or has a minimum size.
Honestly, 80KB for 3 scanned pages is extremely tight, and readable ID details may not survive. I would crop all margins, scan in grayscale at the lowest readable quality, and check whether the limit is 80KB per page rather than for the whole file. Avoid repeated screenshots, since they often make text fuzzy without reducing enough.
@guitar_mouse is completly right about cropping! Trimming the blank margins makes a huge difference in file size for my vendor contracts. Don’t stress, you can do this.
- Retake the scan in pure black and white.
- Crop out the desk or background.
- Save it directly from your camera roll.
Are you using an iPhone?
@rando72836 Cropping is what shrinks my handouts the most, so that tip is spot on. One extra: save the original 4MB scan somewhere safe before you start squashing it, then re-do the scan in black and white rather than compressing the colour one over and over. If your phone lets you set the scan to greyscale at around 150 dpi, that usually lands under 80KB for three pages.
80KB for 3 scanned pages is brutal, that’s basically postage stamp quality. Try scanning in black and white (not color or grayscale) at a lower DPI like 150, it compresses way smaller since there’s less color data to store.