How to Fix "File Size Exceeds Maximum Limit"
Your file has more bytes than the portal allows. Pin down the exact limit and its unit first; the right way to shrink it depends on whether it's an image or a PDF.
Read the limit exactly
Before changing anything, find the number and its unit.
- KB or MB? 500 KB and 5 MB are ten times apart.
- 1,000 or 1,024? Portals don’t agree on whether a kilobyte is 1,000 or 1,024 bytes, and they rarely say. So a “maximum 100 KB” could mean 100,000 or 102,400 bytes. WillItUpload treats a maximum as the smaller figure and a minimum as the larger, so a file that passes passes both ways. That means a “50 KB” maximum lands a little under 50,000 bytes, never on the edge.
- Per file or total? If you’re attaching several files, check whether the limit is for each file or all together.
Fix it by file type
Images. Open Compress Image and give it the maximum. It keeps the highest quality that fits, and only shrinks the pixels if that isn’t enough. If the form also fixes the dimensions, use KB + Dimensions. See how to compress an image to 100KB for the trade-off in detail.
PDFs. Compress PDF re-compresses the pictures inside and leaves text and pages alone. Scans shrink the most; text-only files barely change. See PDF too large to upload.
Photos from an iPhone. HEIC files are often not accepted. Convert to JPG reads them directly, with an optional KB limit.
If it’s already under the limit
A file that is under the limit but still rejected is failing a different rule. Common ones: a minimum size (some forms want, say, 20 to 50 KB), the wrong dimensions, or the wrong format. Run it through the Image Requirement Checker with every rule from the form, and fix what shows as failing.
If the file is already within your limit, Compress Image returns it unchanged rather than re-compressing it.
If you can’t get small enough
When the limit is very low for the content, the tool reports “target not reached” or “target too aggressive” instead of ruining the file. Your options are to raise the limit if the portal permits, reduce the pixel size, or for a PDF, split or rebuild the document from smaller pictures.