Photo upload rejected? The checks a portal runs, and how to pass each one

Upload checkers are simple programs, and their error messages are often vague: 'invalid file', 'upload failed', or a red border and nothing else. Behind them is a short list of tests, run in roughly this order. Go through them one by one and the cause is almost always among the first four.

1. File type

The checker reads the file's first bytes, not just its name. A HEIC from an iPhone, a WebP saved from a web page or a PNG screenshot fails a 'JPG only' rule even if it is renamed. JPG and JPEG are the same format; a few older portals still compare the extension text, so save as .jpg in lower case when the notice writes it that way.

2. Maximum size

The most common rejection. Phone photos are 2 to 6 MB; forms ask for 20 to 200 KB. Reduce pixels first and quality second; the fit-to-size tool does both and stops just under the limit. Leave a little margin: portals disagree on whether 'KB' means 1000 or 1024 bytes.

3. Minimum size

Many exam forms reject files that are too small, typically under 10 or 20 KB, because a tiny file usually means a blurry photo. Simple images such as signatures can fall below the floor even at full quality. Enter the minimum in the tool's options and it keeps the file above it.

4. Pixel dimensions

Some portals want an exact size (200 × 230 pixels), some a range (600 to 1200 pixels square), some only a minimum. An exact size means the photo must be cropped to that shape, not stretched. Centimetres in a notice convert to pixels through DPI; at 300 DPI, 3.5 × 4.5 cm is 413 × 531 pixels.

5. Orientation

Phones often store a photo sideways with a tag that says 'rotate when shown'. Your gallery obeys the tag; many portals ignore it and show the photo lying on its side, and some reject it for the wrong width and height. Rotating in the rotate tool, or re-encoding with any tool on this site, writes the turn into the pixels.

6. Colour mode

Files from print shops and some scanners are saved in CMYK, which browsers and many checkers cannot read. Re-encoding through the browser always writes standard RGB colour, which fixes it. A portal that asks for a colour photo may also reject a black-and-white one.

7. File name

Spaces, brackets, several dots and non-Latin letters in a name trip up older systems. Use something short like photo.jpg or signature.jpg, and follow the notice exactly when it names the file.

What no file tool can fix

Some portals also judge the picture itself: face size, eyes open, plain background, no glasses, no shadow. Those rules are in the official notice and need a new photo, not a new file. The requirement pages on this site list them, with a link to the source.

Error message to cause