Assignment PDF over 20 MB: the short answer
An assignment PDF made straight from phone photos is too big because each photo carries far more detail than handwriting needs. In my test, twelve handwritten pages shot at a phone's usual 12 megapixels made a 29 MB PDF. The same pages shrunk to about 170 pixels per inch came to 3.06 MB and were still easy to read. So you don't need a scanner or a paid app. Put the photos into one PDF, compress it once, and check that every page is upright and readable before you upload.
Everything here works with our free JPG to PDF, Merge PDF and Compress PDF tools, which run in your browser, so your pages and ID card never leave your phone.
What IGNOU asks for in December 2026
IGNOU's Online Assignment Management System (OAMS) is open for the December 2026 Term End Examination, and its page gives the final submission deadline as 20 November 2026, 11:59 PM. Its rules for the file are:
- Only PDF files are accepted, one single PDF per course, holding the answers to all the required questions.
- Each file must be no larger than 20 MB.
- Name the file with your enrolment number, then the
_sign, then the course code. - All answers must be handwritten, and you must sign every page.
- Include your IGNOU identity card and the assignment question paper along with your answers.
- Every page must be clear, legible and properly aligned when scanned.
Phone photos cause trouble with two of those rules: the size limit, and "properly aligned", which a sideways page fails. Both come from the way phones save photos, so that is where to start. If you study somewhere else, the same steps apply to any portal that wants one PDF under a size limit; only the numbers change.
Why phone photos make the PDF too big
A phone camera saves a 12 megapixel photo as about 4000 by 3000 pixels. When an A4 page fills the frame, that works out to roughly 300 pixels for every inch of paper, which is what an office scanner uses for printing. Handwriting on a screen needs about half that in each direction, and halving both sides cuts the pixel count to a quarter.
The bigger cost is what the camera records besides ink. Paper grain, faint shadows, the texture of ruled lines and a little sensor noise all look like detail to a JPEG encoder, and it spends bytes on all of them. My twelve 12 megapixel test pages averaged 2.4 MB each, and photos taken in dim light usually come out bigger because they carry more noise.
Most PDF makers also keep each photo exactly as it is. Our JPG to PDF tool does this on purpose: it copies each JPG into the PDF byte for byte, so a page is never softened without you choosing it. The catch is that the PDF weighs about the same as all the photos added together. Twelve photos at 2.4 MB each gave a 29.0 MB PDF before any compression, which is already over the limit for a single course.
How much resolution handwriting needs
To find the point where handwriting stops being readable, I took a public domain scan of a real handwritten letter on ruled paper, the kind of blue lines and pen strokes a notebook page has, and saved it at different sizes as if it were an A4 page. The file sizes below are for one page saved as a colour JPG at quality 75, which is close to what compression tools use.
| Pixels per inch | Page size in pixels | One page | How it reads at 100% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300 | 2481 × 3507 | 906 KB | Sharper than any screen shows |
| 200 | 1654 × 2338 | 415 KB | Crisp |
| 150 | 1240 × 1754 | 241 KB | Crisp, every stroke clear |
| 120 | 992 × 1403 | 161 KB | Readable, edges a little soft |
| 100 | 827 × 1169 | 118 KB | Light strokes start to break up |
For ordinary pen on ruled paper, 150 pixels per inch is a comfortable floor and 120 still works if your writing is large and dark. Below that, light ballpoint strokes and small digits start to blur, and those are what an evaluator squints at. Pencil and light blue ink usually need the higher end of the range.
Two common tips did much less than I expected. Turning the page grey instead of colour saved only about 10% (241 KB down to 217 KB at 150 pixels per inch), because the ink and paper carry very little colour to begin with. A strong "black and white document" filter, the kind scanning apps offer, saved about the same and erased parts of the faintest pen strokes. If you use a scanning app, check that its filter hasn't erased light writing before you rely on it.
How many pages fit in 20 MB
Using the same twelve test pages, here is what each route produced and roughly how many pages of that kind a 20 MB file can hold. The last column counts 20 MB as 20,000,000 bytes, the stricter of the two ways a portal can count it. Your own numbers will move with your paper, light and handwriting, so treat that column as a rough guide.
| Route | 12 pages | Per page | Pages in 20 MB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photos straight into a PDF | 29.0 MB | 2.4 MB | About 7 |
| Compress PDF, Balanced | 3.06 MB | 261 KB | About 74 |
| Compress PDF, Strong | 931 KB | 78 KB | About 250 |
| Compress PDF, Smallest | 902 KB | 75 KB | About 260 |
Balanced shrinks each photo so its longer side is at most 2000 pixels, which is about 170 pixels per inch on an A4 page, inside the range that reads well. That alone fits a long assignment with room to spare. Strong goes down to 1300 pixels on the longer side, about 110 pixels per inch, and is worth it only when you have a very long assignment or a slow connection.
The Smallest setting is the one to skip here. It turns every page into a picture, including the question paper, so its text can no longer be selected or searched, and on photographed pages it saved only 29 KB more than Strong across all twelve pages.
Why a page comes out sideways
A phone's camera sensor has one fixed shape. When you hold the phone upright, many phones save the photo the sensor's way round and add a small note inside the file saying "turn this 90 degrees when you show it". Your gallery reads the note, so the photo looks fine on the phone. A PDF tool that ignores the note places the page on its side, and that is the "properly aligned" rule broken without you noticing.
Our JPG to PDF tool reads that note and turns each page to match it, without re-saving the photo. Other apps may not, and a page can also end up sideways if the phone guessed wrong because you shot the paper lying flat on a table. In both cases, open the finished PDF, scroll through every page, and turn any sideways one with Organize PDF, which has Rotate left and Rotate right buttons on each page.
Make the assignment PDF step by step
This order keeps the file small and puts each check where it is cheapest to fix.
- Write the answers in pen, fill in the first page with the details IGNOU asks for, and sign every sheet before you photograph it.
- Photograph each page in daylight near a window, with the flash off so the paper doesn't get a bright glare spot. Hold the phone flat above the page so the lines stay parallel, and let the page fill most of the frame on a darker surface. If your phone has a 50 or 108 megapixel mode, switch back to the normal mode for this, because those photos are several times larger and add nothing to handwriting.
- On an iPhone, photos are often saved as HEIC, which JPG to PDF does not accept. Convert them with the HEIC to JPG converter, or before you start, open Settings, then Camera, then Formats, and choose Most Compatible.
- Open JPG to PDF, add the photo of your identity card and all the answer pages, and put them in order. Each row shows its page number, and you can drag rows or use the arrows. Choose A4, keep Orientation on "Match each image", and create the PDF.
- Download the question paper PDF from the IGNOU website instead of photographing it. A downloaded paper is usually stored as text, so it adds little to the size and stays sharp. In Merge PDF, add your answers PDF first and the question paper second. Merge PDF joins whole files, so the question paper lands at the end. IGNOU's page sets the content of the first page but not the order of the rest, so unless your regional centre says otherwise, a sensible order is your first page, the identity card, the question paper, then the answers. To get there, open the merged file in Organize PDF and use the Move earlier button to bring the question paper pages up behind the identity card.
- Run the merged file through Compress PDF on Balanced. Try Strong only if the result is still over the limit.
- Scroll through every page of the compressed file. Rotate or remove pages in Organize PDF if you need to.
- Rename the file to your enrolment number, the
_sign and the course code, written as the course code appears on your question paper.
Everything runs in the browser, including on a phone. Very large photos can take a few seconds each on an older phone, so add them in one go and wait for each row to finish loading before you create the PDF.
Check the size the way the portal counts it
"20 MB" is not as exact as it looks. A file of 20,600,000 bytes shows as 19.6 MB on Windows and on our tools, which count a megabyte as 1,048,576 bytes, but as 20.6 MB on an iPhone or a Mac, which count it as 1,000,000. The portal doesn't say which way it counts. Keep the file at or under 19 MB as your phone shows it and it passes either way. Our guide on why an online form rejects a photo or signature explains this KB and MB difference with exact byte ranges.
If one course comes out much larger than the others, look for the cause before compressing harder. A single photo taken in a high resolution mode, or the question paper photographed instead of downloaded, often accounts for most of the extra size.
Final check before you upload
- Every page is upright and in order, and the first page carries your details.
- Your signature is visible on every page, including after compression.
- The smallest writing on the page, such as a subscript or a small digit, reads clearly when you zoom to 100%.
- The identity card and the right question paper are included, and the course code on the question paper matches your course.
- There is one PDF per course, named with your enrolment number,
_and course code. - The file is at or under 19 MB as your phone shows it.
The deadline is 20 November 2026 at 11:59 PM. Aim to upload a day early, so there is time to try again if the upload fails or you find a page missing.
Your identity card shows your photo and enrolment number, so think twice before sending it to a website that uploads files to its own server. Our tools do the work on your own device, and our guide to whether online file converters are safe shows how to check any other site before you use it.
Frequently asked questions about the assignment PDF
What is the maximum file size for an IGNOU assignment PDF?
For the December 2026 Term End Examination, the OAMS page allows one PDF per course of up to 20 MB, holding the answers to all required questions along with your identity card and the question paper.
How do I reduce an assignment PDF's size without making it blurry?
Use a compressor that shrinks the photos inside the PDF to around 150 to 200 pixels per inch. Compress PDF on Balanced keeps photos at up to 2000 pixels on the longer side, about 170 pixels per inch on A4. In my test it cut a 29.0 MB file to 3.06 MB and the handwriting stayed clear.
Why is one page sideways in my PDF?
The photo was probably saved with a rotation note that the PDF maker ignored, or the phone guessed the wrong way up because the page lay flat. Turn the page in Organize PDF. Our JPG to PDF tool reads the note, which avoids most sideways pages in the first place.
Can I use a scanning app instead of plain photos?
Yes. Scanning apps crop the page and straighten it, which helps with alignment. Check that their black and white filter hasn't erased light pen strokes, and check the size of the PDF it makes, because a scanning app's file can still be large.
Do I still need to sign every page if I upload online?
Yes. The OAMS rules ask for handwritten answers and a signature on every page. Signing each sheet in pen before you photograph it is the simplest way to meet that rule.
Can I make the whole PDF on my phone?
Yes. JPG to PDF, Merge PDF, Compress PDF and Organize PDF all run in the phone's browser, and nothing is uploaded. On an older phone, very large photos may take a few seconds each to load.
