Exam photo and signature size 2026: SSC, IBPS, SBI, UPSC, RRB and PAN
Every size and KB limit from the official 2026 notices in one table, where the notices contradict themselves, and why SSC does not want your photo at all.
Calci Editorial · · 6 min read
An application form turns your photo away with a line like "file size must be between 20 KB and 50 KB", and the photo you took on your phone is 3 MB. Every recruitment body sets its own rules, the rules change with each notification, and most websites that list them copy each other rather than the notices.
The table below is taken from the official 2026 notices and portals themselves, each one read on 24 September 2026, with the link to the document. Where a notice contradicts itself, that is said too.
The sizes at a glance
| Exam | What you upload | Size | File size | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSC (CGL, CHSL, MTS, GD) | Signature only | About 6.0 cm wide × 2.0 cm high | 10–20 KB | JPEG/JPG |
| IBPS and SBI (PO, Clerk, RRB, JA) | Photo | 200 × 230 px | 20–50 KB | JPG/JPEG |
| IBPS and SBI | Signature | 140 × 60 px | 10–20 KB | JPG/JPEG |
| IBPS and SBI | Left thumb impression | 240 × 240 px (3 × 3 cm) | 20–50 KB | JPG/JPEG |
| IBPS and SBI | Handwritten declaration | 800 × 400 px (10 × 5 cm) | 50–100 KB | JPG/JPEG |
| RRB (NTPC, Group D, ALP) | Signature only | At least 140 × 60 px and 100 DPI, signed in a 35 × 20 mm box | 30–49 KB | JPG/JPEG |
| UPSC (CSE and others) | Photo | No pixel size stated | 20–200 KB | JPG |
| UPSC | Signature, three times | "350 – 500 pixels" | 20–100 KB | JPG |
| UPPSC (One Time Registration) | Photo | 5 cm wide × 6 cm high at 200 DPI | Less than 50 KB | Not stated; the portal asks for .jpg |
| UPPSC | Signature | 6 cm wide × 3 cm high at 200 DPI | Less than 30 KB | Not stated; the portal asks for .jpg |
| PAN, Protean (NSDL) | Photo | 3.5 cm high × 2.5 cm wide at 200 DPI | Up to 20 KB | JPEG |
| PAN, Protean (NSDL) | Signature | 2 cm high × 4.5 cm wide at 200 DPI | Up to 10 KB | JPEG |
| PAN, UTIITSL | Photo / signature | No size checked | Up to 30 KB / 60 KB | JPG, JPEG or PNG |
Sources: the SSC CGL 2026 notice, the SBI PO 2026 advertisement, the RRB ALP CEN 01/2026 notice, UPSC's photo and signature instructions, the UPPSC OTR guidelines, Protean's PAN instructions and UTIITSL's form check.
Why SSC and RRB do not ask for a photo
SSC's 2026 notices for CGL, CHSL and Constable GD, and the MTS 2025 notice, all capture your photograph live during the application, through the webcam or the mobile app, rather than taking an uploaded file. None of them gives a KB, pixel or format figure for the photo, because there is no photo file to upload. The "20–50 KB, 275 × 354 px" figures that circulate for SSC photos are not in any of these notices. RRB works the same way: the photo is captured live and only the signature is uploaded.
What SSC does reject is a poor capture: a blurred, side-facing or miniature photo, or one taken wearing earphones. Sit facing the camera in good light and you have done what the photo step needs.
The rules behind the numbers
IBPS and SBI give pixel sizes as "preferred" and put the KB range first. The signature must be in black ink on white paper and must not be written in capital letters. The declaration is a fixed paragraph in English, written by hand by the candidate and scanned; a candidate who cannot write may type it and add a left thumb impression. IBPS RRB also captures a live photograph through a webcam or phone, in addition to the uploaded one.
UPSC is the strictest about names. Its instructions refuse a file "if any other file name, format or size is used", so the files must be called exactly photo.jpg and signature.jpg. The photo needs a plain white background with the face taking up about three-quarters of it. The signature is signed three times, one below another, on white paper.
RRB wants the signature signed inside a 35 × 20 mm box and scanned at 100 DPI or more, and the file must weigh between 30 and 49 KB — a higher floor than most exams, which a small, clean signature does not reach on its own.
PAN differs by agency. Protean's DSC table caps the photo at 20 KB and the signature at 10 KB, while its e-Sign guide allows 50 KB for both; a file that meets the stricter figure passes both. UTIITSL's own upload check tests only the file type (JPG, JPEG or PNG) and the size, 30 KB for the photo and 60 KB for the signature. The 213 × 213 px photo size often quoted for UTIITSL is not in its own published text.
Where the notices contradict themselves
Three points trip people up because the official documents disagree with each other:
- SSC signature width. The CGL 2026 and CHSL 2026 notices say "about 6.0 cm (width)" in the main instructions and on the upload page, but their Annexure-IV says 4.0 cm. The upload page is what the portal shows, so 6.0 cm is the figure to follow.
- SBI photo size. The advertisement prints "(4.5cm × 3.5cm)" beside the photo heading without saying which is width and which is height, and gives 200 × 230 px as the preferred size. The pixel size is the unambiguous one.
- UPSC signature pixels. "350 – 500 pixels" is given without saying which side it applies to. Keeping both sides inside that range satisfies either reading.
Kilobytes: the trap nobody mentions
A form that says "maximum 50 KB" may mean 50,000 bytes or 51,200 bytes. Windows and most upload scripts count 1 KB as 1,024 bytes; Android and macOS count it as 1,000. A file of 50,500 bytes is "49.3 KB" to one and "50.5 KB" to the other.
The safe rule is to aim inside the range from both ends:
maximum X KB → at most X × 1,000 bytes
minimum X KB → at least X × 1,024 bytes
For a 20–50 KB photo that means between 20,480 and 50,000 bytes. A file in that window passes whichever way the form counts.
Converting centimetres to pixels
When a notice gives centimetres and a DPI, the pixel size follows from one formula:
pixels = cm ÷ 2.54 × DPI
| Specification | Worked out |
|---|---|
| SSC signature, 6.0 × 2.0 cm at 300 DPI | 709 × 236 px |
| PAN (Protean) photo, 2.5 × 3.5 cm at 200 DPI | 197 × 276 px |
| PAN (Protean) signature, 4.5 × 2 cm at 200 DPI | 354 × 157 px |
| UPPSC photo, 5 × 6 cm at 200 DPI | 394 × 472 px |
| UPPSC signature, 6 × 3 cm at 200 DPI | 472 × 236 px |
These are the arithmetic, not figures the notices print. Where a notice gives pixels directly, as IBPS and SBI do, use those.
Making each file
Every size in the table is a preset in our free tools, which work in your browser without uploading the photo anywhere:
- The signature resizer has presets for SSC, IBPS and SBI, RRB, UPSC and UPPSC. It can trim the empty paper around a signature and whiten a shadowed page before shrinking it.
- The PAN card photo resizer has the Protean and UTIITSL photo and signature sizes.
- The image resizer in KB has the IBPS and SBI photo, thumb and declaration, and the UPSC and UPPSC photos, and takes any size in pixels or centimetres.
- When a form sets a minimum, such as RRB's 30 KB, the increase image size in KB tool raises a small file to the exact size, keeping its pixel dimensions and padding the file rather than enlarging the picture.
For UPSC, the presets name the downloaded file photo.jpg or signature.jpg for you.
Before you upload
Rules change with each notification, sometimes in a corrigendum published weeks after the main notice. The table here was checked against the documents on 24 September 2026. Read the upload section of the notice you are actually applying under, and if it differs from this page, the notice wins.
Three checks catch most rejections: the file size in bytes, not in "KB" as your phone shows it; the file type, since a PNG is refused where only JPG is allowed; and, for UPSC, the exact file name.