Crop before you compress
Empty background costs bytes. Cropping tight on the subject leaves more of the size budget for the detail that matters.
Compress an image to 500 KB
500 KB suits high-resolution scans, portfolio images and email attachments that must stay light. Drop your photo in below — the target is already set to 500 KB, and everything runs inside this browser tab, so the image never leaves your device.
How to get a photo under 500 KB without it turning to mush
Match the required dimensions
Most forms cap both KB and pixels. Set the dimension preset here as well so a 500 KB file is not rejected for being the wrong shape.
Use JPG for photos
PNG stores photos far less efficiently. Choosing JPG output often reaches the target with visibly better quality.