There are two ways to make an image smaller and they are not interchangeable. Reducing resolution throws away pixels. Reducing quality throws away precision within the pixels that remain. A form upload is usually a photo of a document, and that is exactly the case where getting the balance wrong is visible: drop quality too far and the letterforms turn to mush, but drop resolution and the image stays sharp, just smaller.\n\nSo the reliable sequence is resolution first, quality second. A 12MP phone photo down to 1600px on the long edge is already a fraction of the original with no perceptible loss at reading size. A gentle quality pass on top closes the gap to the cap. Skwish shows the resulting file size before you download, so you can tune it to land just under the limit rather than guessing, and the whole thing runs locally.