Every exam portal wants your photo and signature in a slightly different size, and the numbers you find on most websites are copied from other websites. This chart comes straight from each body’s own 2026 notice or information bulletin: SSC, UPSC, IBPS, SBI, the Railway Recruitment Boards, and NTA’s NEET, JEE Main and CUET. Every row links to the document it came from.
Quick answer: bank exams (IBPS, SBI) want a 20–50 KB photo at 200 × 230 px and a 10–20 KB signature at 140 × 60 px. NTA exams (NEET, JEE Main, CUET) take a 10–200 KB photo. SSC CGL and RRB no longer take a photo file at all: the form captures a live photo from your webcam or phone. Full details, with sources, are below. Checked on 13 September 2026.
1The chart: photo and signature specs by exam
Sizes are file sizes in KB and image sizes in pixels (px) unless a notice gives centimetres. “Live photo” means the application form opens your camera and takes the picture itself.
| Exam | Photo | Signature | Also asked for |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSC CGL 2026Notice of 21 May 2026 | Live photo only, captured through webcam or the SSC mobile app. No photo file is uploaded. | JPEG, 10–20 KB, about 6.0 × 2.0 cm | Photo must be without cap and without spectacles, face frontal |
| UPSC (CSE 2026 and the common application form)Notice 05/2026-CSE, 4 Feb 2026, and UPSC’s online FAQ | JPG, 20–300 KB, 350 × 350 px minimum to 1000 × 1000 px maximum. A live photo is also captured. | JPG, 20–300 KB, same pixel range. Sign three times, one below the other, in black ink on white paper. | Photo ID as a PDF |
| IBPS PO/MT-XVINotification of 30 June 2026 | JPG, 20–50 KB, 200 × 230 px (preferred). A live photo is also captured. | JPG, 10–20 KB, 140 × 60 px (preferred), black ink, not in capital letters | Left thumb impression: 20–50 KB, 240 × 240 px at 200 DPI (3 × 3 cm). Handwritten declaration: 50–100 KB, 800 × 400 px at 200 DPI (10 × 5 cm) |
| SBI POAdvertisement CRPD/PO/2025-26/04, June 2025 | JPG, 20–50 KB, 200 × 230 px (preferred). A live photo is also captured. | JPG, 10–20 KB, 140 × 60 px (preferred), not in capital letters | Left thumb impression: 20–50 KB, 240 × 240 px. Handwritten declaration: 50–100 KB, 800 × 400 px |
| Railways (RRB)CEN 04/2025, September 2025 | Live photo only. The notice says candidates are not required to upload a pre-existing photograph. | JPG, 30–49 KB, at least 140 × 60 px, scanned at 100 DPI or more, inside a 35 × 20 mm box. Running handwriting only. | SC/ST certificate as a PDF under 400 KB (for the free travel pass) |
| NEET UG 2026NTA Information Bulletin | JPG, 10–200 KB, recent passport-size photo. A live photo is also captured and matched against Aadhaar. | JPG, 10–100 KB | Left and right hand finger and thumb impressions (see section 3: the bulletin gives two ranges) |
| JEE Main 2026NTA Information Bulletin | JPG, 10–200 KB, colour, 80% face including ears, white background. A live photo is also captured. | JPG, 10–100 KB | Class 10 certificate as a PDF, 50–300 KB |
| CUET UG 2026NTA Information Bulletin | JPG, 10–200 KB, colour, 80% face including ears, white background. A live photo is also captured. | JPG, 10–50 KB | Disability/UDID certificate as a PDF, 50–300 KB, if applicable |
Specs change between cycles. This chart is only as current as the notices listed in the Sources section at the end. When your own exam’s notice comes out, it overrides this page, and so does what the application portal shows on screen. SBI and RRB rows use the latest notices we could read; their next advertisements may differ.
2The big change: most forms now take a live photo
If you last applied a few years ago, this is what will surprise you. Every body in the chart now photographs you during the application:
- Live photo only (no photo file): SSC CGL and RRB. A saved passport photo is not what they ask for, however well you have sized it.
- Uploaded photo and a live photo: UPSC, IBPS, SBI, NEET, JEE Main and CUET. You still need a correctly sized photo file, and the form also takes a picture through your camera.
- NEET matches the live photo with Aadhaar. The bulletin says the live photograph will be matched with the photograph in the Aadhaar database. CUET’s bulletin similarly advises updating your Aadhaar photo if it is old.
For the live capture, the notices ask for the same things: face straight to the camera, good light, a plain light background, and no cap. SSC also asks for no spectacles. NTA’s bulletins ask for 80% of the frame to be your face, ears visible, without a mask. If your computer has no webcam, SSC and NTA both offer a QR code on the form that opens the capture on your phone.
3Where the official notices contradict themselves
Two of the documents give different numbers for the same upload in different places. Other websites pick one and don’t mention the other. Here is what each notice actually says, and a size that satisfies both.
- SSC CGL 2026 signature: 6.0 × 2.0 cm or 4.0 × 2.0 cm? Paragraph 9.6 and the application instructions say about 6.0 cm wide by 2.0 cm high. A later instruction in the same notice says about 4.0 cm by 2.0 cm. Both say 10–20 KB, and both say “about”. The file size is the hard limit; follow the dimensions the portal shows when you upload.
- NEET UG 2026 finger and thumb impressions: 10–200 KB or 50–300 KB? The list of uploads says 10–200 KB. The step-by-step section says 50–300 KB. A file between 50 and 200 KB is inside both ranges, so aim there.
4Turning centimetres into pixels
Some notices give sizes in centimetres, but an image file has no physical size of its own, only pixels. The link between the two is DPI (dots per inch):
pixels = centimetres ÷ 2.54 × DPI
At 200 DPI, the resolution IBPS and SBI name for thumb impressions and declarations, the common sizes work out like this:
| Size in the notice | At 200 DPI | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 3 × 3 cm (IBPS/SBI thumb) | 236 × 236 px | The notices round this to 240 × 240 px |
| 10 × 5 cm (IBPS/SBI declaration) | 787 × 394 px | The notices round this to 800 × 400 px |
| 3.5 × 4.5 cm (passport-style photo) | 276 × 354 px | Where the “275 × 354 px” figure on many SSC pages comes from |
| 6.0 × 2.0 cm (SSC signature) | 472 × 157 px | SSC gives no DPI, so treat this as a sensible size, not a rule |
| 4.0 × 2.0 cm (SSC signature, other figure) | 315 × 157 px | Same caution |
| 35 × 20 mm (RRB signature box) | 276 × 157 px | RRB’s actual rule is at least 140 × 60 px |
The AMTake Image Resizer works in pixels: choose An exact width and height and type the numbers from this table. For passport photos in millimetres, the Passport Photo Maker has 35 × 45 mm and other presets built in.
5Hitting the KB range
- Start from a clean original For a signature, sign large on plain white paper with a black pen and photograph it in even daylight, with no shadow across the page. For a photo, use a recent one against a plain light background.
- Crop tightly Trim to just the signature (with a little white margin) or to head and shoulders, using the Smart Image Cropper.
- Resize to the pixels your exam wants In the Image Resizer, pick An exact width and height and JPEG output. For an IBPS or SBI photo that is 200 × 230. For their signature, use 280 × 120: the same shape as the preferred 140 × 60, but large enough to reach the 10 KB minimum (see the box below).
- Compress to a target near the top of the range In the Image Compressor, choose JPG and a target size in KB. The target is a ceiling: the tool finds the highest quality that stays under it and shows the size it actually reached. So aim high, for example 18 KB for a 10–20 KB signature or 45 KB for a 20–50 KB photo, and check the result is above the minimum too.
Minimum sizes catch people out, because compressing can only make a file smaller. We encoded test signatures at every quality setting. At 140 × 60 px the file stayed between 2 and 9 KB, so it can never reach the 10 KB minimum that IBPS and SBI set. Their notices call 140 × 60 “preferred”, while the KB range is the stated limit, so keep the same shape with more pixels: at 280 × 120 px the same signatures came out at 11–18 KB. The same fix works elsewhere. For RRB’s 30–49 KB signature, a 525 × 300 px image (the shape of RRB’s 35 × 20 mm box) with a 45 KB target landed inside the range. For an IBPS or SBI photo that stays under 20 KB at 200 × 230, use 250 × 288 px.
For more on squeezing files under a limit, see our guides to compressing an image to 20 KB and the two-minute resize method for exam forms.
6Signature mistakes that get forms rejected
- Capital letters. IBPS and SBI state that a signature in CAPITAL LETTERS will not be accepted. RRB requires running (joined) handwriting, not block, capital or disjointed letters.
- The wrong ink or background. RRB lists a non-white background and non-black ink as grounds for rejection. UPSC and IBPS also ask for black ink on white paper.
- One signature where UPSC wants three. UPSC’s form needs you to sign three times, one below the other, in a single image.
- A blurred or tiny signature. SSC says applications with blurred or miniature signatures will be rejected. Sign large; the resize step shrinks it.
- A thumb impression instead of a signature. RRB lists this as a rejection ground.
- A typed or drawn e-signature. Our Signature Maker produces a drawn or typed signature as a PNG with a transparent background. That is useful for documents, but it is not what exam forms ask for: they want a pen signature on white paper, saved as a JPG.
7Changing the DPI does not change the file size
The DPI number stored in a JPG is a printing hint. Changing it from 72 to 200 leaves every pixel, and therefore the file size, exactly as it was. Portals check the KB size and sometimes the pixel size; when IBPS asks for “240 × 240 pixels in 200 DPI”, the 240 × 240 px is what matters. Our Reduce Image DPI tool shows the difference: one mode only rewrites the DPI number and keeps every pixel, the other resamples the image and really does change its size.
8Frequently Asked Questions
Do I still upload a photo for SSC CGL 2026?
No. The CGL 2026 notice says candidates capture a live photo through a webcam or mobile device inside the application form, and it offers a QR code to download the app for phone capture. You still upload a scanned signature of 10–20 KB.
My signature file is below the minimum KB. What should I do?
Give it more pixels, in the same shape. In our tests a 140 × 60 px signature never passed 9 KB at any quality, while 280 × 120 px landed at 11–18 KB, inside the 10–20 KB that IBPS and SBI ask for. For RRB’s 30–49 KB, start from about 525 × 300 px. Then compress with a target near the top of the range. Compressing can only make a file smaller, so it cannot lift a tiny image over a minimum on its own.
Why was my file rejected when its size was inside the range?
Check the format first. UPSC states that photos and signatures must be JPG/JPEG and no other format is acceptable; a PNG renamed to .jpg is still a PNG. Then check pixel limits where a notice sets them, and whether the signature breaks a rule such as capital letters or a non-white background.
What size should NEET UG finger and thumb impressions be?
The NEET UG 2026 bulletin gives 10–200 KB in its list of uploads and 50–300 KB in its step-by-step instructions. A JPG between 50 and 200 KB meets both, so it is the safe target.
Are these the specs for the next exam cycle too?
Not necessarily. Each cycle has a new notice or bulletin, and the specs do change: several bodies moved to live photo capture recently. Use this chart to prepare, then confirm against your own exam’s notice and the portal’s on-screen instructions.
Is it safe to process my signature in an online tool?
The AMTake image tools in this guide run in your browser, so the image is processed on your own device rather than uploaded to a server. Whatever tool you use, only upload the final file to the official exam portal.
9Sources
Every figure above comes from these official documents, read on 13 September 2026:
- SSC, Combined Graduate Level Examination 2026 notice (21 May 2026)
- UPSC, Examination Notice 05/2026-CSE (4 February 2026) and UPSC online application FAQ
- IBPS, CRP PO/MT-XVI detailed notification (30 June 2026)
- SBI, Recruitment of Probationary Officers, CRPD/PO/2025-26/04
- Railway Recruitment Boards, CEN 04/2025 (Section Controller)
- NTA, NEET (UG) 2026 Information Bulletin
- NTA, JEE (Main) 2026 Information Bulletin
- NTA, CUET (UG) 2026 Information Bulletin
Found a spec that has changed? Tell us through the contact page and we will update the chart.
