When you're asked for 500 KB
- Job sites and recruitment platforms, which often limit your CV and attached certificates.
- Enrollment and scholarship forms that accept several documents but limit each one separately.
- Ticketing and support systems where the attachment travels inside the message itself.
What quality to expect at 500 KB
For a scan of one to four pages, 500 KB leaves enough resolution to read comfortably on screen and print on A4 or Letter paper. If your PDF has full-page photos, you'll notice the recompression in areas with gradients.
If your file is already under 500 KB, we give it back untouched: there's no point recompressing something that already fits. And if the target turns out to be impossible, you get the lightest version we could achieve, with a clear notice of the final size.
Common questions about this size
Will signatures and stamps still look good?
Yes. Handwritten signatures and stamps are high-contrast strokes, which is exactly what survives JPEG recompression best. What degrades first are soft gradients and photographic backgrounds. At 500 KB, a short signed and stamped document looks sharp enough for the recipient to accept it as valid.
Is it good for sending via WhatsApp or Telegram?
More than enough: both accept much larger documents. The reason to go down to 500 KB in messaging apps is usually different: the recipient may have limited data or poor coverage. Half a megabyte downloads in seconds even on a bad connection.