The internet’s favourite limit
If an upload form has a size limit, there’s a good chance it’s 1 MB. It shows up on form builders and support systems everywhere, and it trips up iPhone users constantly because a single HEIC photo is often 2 to 4 MB and won’t be accepted as HEIC anyway.
Places you’ll hit it:
- Email, when you want to send a batch without bouncing off the attachment limit
- Insurance and claims portals, for photos of damage, receipts and serial numbers
- School and college forms, from admissions documents to coursework uploads
- Marketplaces, where sellers upload several photos per item
How the 1 MB target works
We start at quality 88 and search for the highest quality that comes in under 1,000,000 bytes. For most 12 MP photos that’s achievable at full resolution or very close to it. Only if a photo is extremely detailed, like a field of grass or a crowd, do we scale it down slightly.
The search never drops below about 55, so you won’t get a smeary result just to save a few kilobytes.
Photographing an insurance claim
Claim photos need to be readable more than pretty. A few tips that help adjusters:
- Shoot close, then wide. One photo of the damage up close, one showing where it is.
- Keep the date. Date and time are kept by default, which can help show when a photo was taken. Location is removed by default; switch Metadata to “keep everything” if your insurer asks for it.
- Check orientation. Sideways photos are annoying to review. Fix them with Rotate HEIC before compressing.
- Name files sensibly after download, like “kitchen-ceiling-1.jpg”.
Emailing photos without the bounce
A batch of 1 MB JPGs is the friendliest way to send photos by email: every recipient can open them and they won’t clog an inbox. Our guide on sending HEIC photos by email covers the details, or use Convert HEIC for email for a one-click preset.
Need a different number?
Got a 2 MB limit? Use compress HEIC to 2 MB and keep more detail. Need it tighter? The 500 KB page has you covered.
Your photos stay put
Claims and school forms often involve personal documents. Here, nothing is sent anywhere until you upload the finished file yourself. All the compressing happens in your browser, even with Wi-Fi switched off after the page loads.