Signature under 30 KB — the ceiling used by pariksha.nic.in, UGC NET and CTET
Thirty kilobytes is the signature ceiling shared by the SSC/UPSC-style one-time registration at pariksha.nic.in and by NTA's teaching exams — three floors, one ceiling.
Signature under 30 KB specification
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| pariksha.nic.in one-time registration | Signature up to 30 KB, photograph up to 50 KB; full signature required, initials are not sufficient |
| UGC NET (June 2025 bulletin) | Signature 4 KB to 30 KB, JPG, full signature in running handwriting, blue or black ink on white paper |
| CTET (September 2026 bulletin) | Signature 3 KB to 30 KB, JPG, 3.5 cm x 1.5 cm box |
| Capital letters | Not accepted on any of the three — writing your name in block capitals is treated as no signature |
| Pixel box that fits | About 280 x 120 px reproduces a 3.5 x 1.5 cm strip at 200 dpi and lands at 8-15 KB |
| Floor | UGC NET 4 KB and CTET 3 KB — a file under the floor is refused even though it is 'smaller' |
| Ink | Blue or black for NTA exams; black is the safe choice everywhere |
Source: Guidelines for uploading photograph and signature — One Time Registration, pariksha.nic.in (live HTML guideline on otr.pariksha.nic.in, read September 2026). checked on 2026-09-20. The OTR page states a 30 KB maximum with no floor; UGC NET (4 KB) and CTET (3 KB) add floors. The preset uses the 4 KB floor so a file passes all three.
Three sources, one ceiling
The pariksha.nic.in one-time registration guideline allows a signature of up to 30 KB and a photograph of up to 50 KB, insists on the full signature rather than initials, and states that a signature in capital letters is not permitted. The UGC NET June 2025 bulletin sets the signature at 4 KB to 30 KB in running handwriting, blue or black ink on white paper, and adds that writing the full name in the box in capital letters would not be accepted. The CTET September 2026 bulletin gives 3 KB to 30 KB and a 3.5 x 1.5 cm box. Same ceiling every time; what differs is the floor and whether a physical box is quoted.
Why the floor is the interesting part
A signature is the easiest image to make small: a few dark strokes on a white field compress to almost nothing. That is exactly why NTA adds a floor. A 1-2 KB signature is nearly always a scan so crushed that the strokes have broken into grey blocks, and it would be unreadable on the admit card. Treat 4 KB as the real target's lower edge and aim for the middle — around 10 KB — where the strokes are solid and the file is nowhere near either limit. If your scan comes out under the floor, do not add noise to it; raise the JPEG quality or the pixel size until it climbs into the range.
Box, crop and the capital-letter trap
CTET's 3.5 x 1.5 cm strip, scanned at 200 dpi, is about 280 x 120 px. Signing inside a drawn box of that size keeps the proportions right before you ever touch software, and cropping to the box edges removes the desk, shadow and ruled lines that make phone photos heavy. The capital-letter rule catches people who print their name because their signature is a scrawl; the portals want the scrawl. It is what will be compared at the centre against the attendance sheet. For the banking range with a smaller ceiling see the 10-20 KB signature page, and for NTA's larger medical and engineering window see 10-100 KB.
How it works
- Draw a 3.5 x 1.5 cm box on white paper and sign inside it with a black or blue pen.
- Scan at 200 dpi or photograph from directly above in even light.
- Crop tightly to the box edges so no shadow or ruled line remains.
- Resize to about 280 x 120 px; the preset has this box and a 4-30 KB range preloaded.
- Check the badge: it should read as a match, not padded, if the crop is right.
- Download as signature.jpg and use the same file for OTR, UGC NET and CTET.