Compress photo for TNPSC 2025–26

TNPSC photo and signature: the official spec

The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission prints the same upload instruction in each recruitment notification. The table quotes it from TNPSC Advertisement No. 728, Notification No. 19/2025 — Combined Technical Services Examination (Interview Posts) II (pp. 15–16, §3.3–3.6); the Group IV notification of 2025 carries the same sentences and figures.

The name and date strip under the photograph

This is the rule that sets TNPSC apart, and the one a plain passport photo fails. The photograph must carry your name and the date it was taken, printed at the bottom, inside the picture itself. The notification divides the 4.5 cm height precisely: about 3.0 cm (115 pixels) for your face and 1.5 cm (55 pixels) for the name and date.

The date matters as much as the name. The photograph has to be taken on or after the date of the notification you are applying to, so a strip dated before it shows at a glance that the photo is too old. Ask the studio for a fresh print with the strip, rather than adding text to an old picture yourself.

130 × 170 pixels: a small image on purpose

TNPSC gives the photograph in both centimetres and pixels: 3.5 cm × 4.5 cm, which it equates to 130 × 170 pixels. That is far smaller than a phone camera makes, so almost every photo needs scaling down, and the lettering in the strip has to survive it. Crop to the photograph and its strip first, then let the tool scale and compress; it fits the image inside the stated box without stretching it.

If the photo is a paper print, the notification allows you to paste it on plain white paper and scan it at 200 DPI — then crop to the photograph alone. Uploading the whole sheet is specifically ruled out.

The signature box

Draw a box of 6.0 × 2.0 cm (230 × 75 pixels) on white paper and sign inside it, using a blue or black ink pen. Scan at 200 DPI and crop to the box, not to the ink: the box is the image. Its band, 10–20 KB, is narrow, and a tight crop of a dark signature on clean paper can land under the floor, so check the size the tool reports.

Photos TNPSC says not to upload

The notification lists them: photographs taken on a mobile phone, selfies, photocopies, and photos from family functions or tourist places. An inappropriate photograph makes the application liable to be rejected, and so does a missing or unclear photo or signature. The sentences are quoted on the exam rejection reasons page.

Other recruitment exams have different rules; the government exams page lists every one MiniPx has checked against its notice.

The tool runs in your browser and the image is not uploaded to MiniPx.