Compress a long PDF under 1 MB.
1 MB is the usual cap once a portal expects whole documents rather than single certificates: experience certificates, degree transcripts, publication lists. The UPSC ORA FAQ lets applicants upload PDF files of up to 1 MB each for the claims they make in a recruitment application.
With 1 MB there is room for ten or more pages at readable quality, so the compressor rarely needs its lowest settings. It opens with 1 MB selected. A 5 MB scanned transcript normally comes down in one pass while keeping small print legible.
Portals with this limit
UPSC has since moved recruitment applications to upsconline.nic.in, so check the current advertisement for the limit before you upload.
- UPSC, Online Recruitment Application (ORA): Each supporting document for recruitment postsPDF, up to 1 MB each
Applicants will have the option to upload PDF Files (Maximum size limit for each file – 01 MB)
UPSC ORA FAQ (07.03.2025), page 6, question 24.
Read from the official documents linked above on 30 September 2026. Limits change between cycles, so check the notice for the year you are applying in.
Tips for this size
- The target box works in KB and treats 1 MB as 1,024 KB. If a portal says 1 MB and rejects the file, set 950 to stay clear of a 1,000,000 byte limit.
- Keep grayscale off unless the file will not fit. At 1 MB, colour stamps and signatures usually survive without trouble.
- Put each claim in its own PDF where the portal gives separate slots. The UPSC ORA FAQ, for example, asks for supporting documents claim by claim.
- Try the original file first. Many born-digital PDFs are already under 1 MB, and compressing one turns its text into images for no gain.
Other common sizes
Frequently asked questions
- How many pages can a 1 MB PDF hold?
- Ten to fifteen A4 pages of printed text compress comfortably under 1 MB. Colour photos or scanned certificates with seals reduce that to five or six.
- Why is my file bigger than the original after compressing?
- That happens with PDFs made from text, such as a document saved from Word. Their text is tiny as data, and turning each page into an image makes it larger. If the original is already under the limit, upload it unchanged.