# SmartRecruiters Resume Format: The 2 MB Limit > SmartRecruiters accepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, JPG and PNG at 2 MB per file, and its CEO named Textkernel as the parsing engine — whose own documentation warns about PDFs more bluntly than any resume blog does. | | | | --- | --- | | System | SmartRecruiters | | Vendor | SmartRecruiters | | Also known as | SmartRecruiters Hiring Success | | Rendered page | https://atsprep.com/ats/smartrecruiters | | This document | https://atsprep.com/ats/smartrecruiters.md | SmartRecruiters is one of the few applicant tracking systems whose parsing engine is a matter of public record: its chief executive named Textkernel in an interview. That is unusually useful, because Textkernel publishes detailed developer documentation about what its parser does and does not handle — far more than SmartRecruiters says itself. ## Taking the file in | | | | --- | --- | | Accepted file types | PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, JPG, PNG | | Maximum upload size | 2 MB | Source: [SmartRecruiters Developers — posting an application](https://developers.smartrecruiters.com/docs/partners-post-an-application) (checked Jul 30, 2026) ## Parsing engine SmartRecruiters uses **Textkernel**. Named publicly by SmartRecruiters' chief executive, who described roughly 98% parsing accuracy across application types after adopting it. Source: [Onrec — SmartRecruiters chooses Textkernel's parsing software](https://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/smartrecruiters-chooses-textkernel%E2%80%99s-resume-parsing-software) (checked Jul 30, 2026) ## What SmartRecruiters does differently ### 2 MB is a tight ceiling SmartRecruiters' application endpoint documents a limit of 2 MB per file — among the lowest of any major system. A resume with an embedded photograph or a design-tool export will clear that limit easily, and a plain text-based export will not come close to it. Source: [SmartRecruiters Developers — posting an application](https://developers.smartrecruiters.com/docs/partners-post-an-application) (checked Jul 30, 2026) ### The parser's own authors are wary of PDF Textkernel's documentation says that to minimise conversion problems you should not use PDF documents, on the grounds that most of their bad-parse reports come from corrupt PDFs, and that PDF often hides issues with the underlying text. That is a warning about how the file was produced rather than about the format itself: a PDF generated as clean linear text is fine, and the only way to know which one you have is to extract the text back out and look. Source: [Textkernel Developers — resume parser, getting started](https://developer.textkernel.com/tx-platform/v10/resume-parser/overview/getting-started/) (checked Jul 30, 2026) ### Design-led resumes are a named failure mode Textkernel calls out artists and graphic designers specifically — resumes using images instead of text, and diagonal or vertical text — along with the very long CVs common in academia and medicine. If your field encourages a visually distinctive resume, this is the engine most likely to punish it. Source: [Textkernel Developers — resume parser, getting started](https://developer.textkernel.com/tx-platform/v10/resume-parser/overview/getting-started/) (checked Jul 30, 2026) ### Images are accepted, which is not the same as read JPG and PNG appear on the accepted list. Textkernel supports image formats only with an optional OCR add-on, so an image resume may be stored without its text ever being recovered. Accepting a file and understanding it are different things. Source: [Textkernel Developers — supported file formats](https://developer.textkernel.com/TKPlatform/master/file-formats/) (checked Jul 30, 2026) ## What to do about it ### Stay well under 2 MB This is the tightest limit among the major systems. Strip embedded images and avoid design-tool exports, which carry large font and graphic payloads for no benefit to a reader. ### Send text, never a picture of text The upload will take a JPG or PNG. The parser needs an OCR add-on to make anything of it, and you have no way of knowing whether the employer pays for one. ### Verify the PDF rather than avoiding it Textkernel's objection is to PDFs that hide broken text, not to the format. Export the file, extract the text back out, and confirm it reads in order before you send it. ### Keep the layout linear Diagonal text, vertical text and image-based headings are named directly. Whatever the visual convention in your field, the parsed record is what gets searched. ## Questions ### What file types does SmartRecruiters accept? PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, JPG and PNG, with a documented limit of 2 MB per file on its application endpoint. Note that accepting an image format is not the same as reading it — extracting text from an image requires OCR, which is an optional add-on to the underlying parser. ### What parser does SmartRecruiters use? Textkernel. SmartRecruiters' chief executive named it publicly, describing about 98% parsing accuracy across application types and citing the need for a partner that could scale with rapid traffic growth and support multiple languages. ### Should I avoid PDF for SmartRecruiters? Textkernel's own documentation advises against PDF to minimise conversion problems, saying most of its bad-parse reports come from corrupt PDFs and that the format often hides problems with the underlying text. The practical reading is narrower than the headline: a PDF built as clean linear text parses fine. What matters is checking the text can be extracted rather than trusting how the page looks. ### How large can a resume be in SmartRecruiters? 2 MB per file according to its developer documentation, which is one of the lowest ceilings among the major applicant tracking systems. A plain text-based resume sits comfortably below it. ## Exporting from ATSPrep to SmartRecruiters ATSPrep exports a linear, single-column, parser-safe document. Against SmartRecruiters's published list of accepted types: - **PDF** — on SmartRecruiters's accepted list - **DOCX** — on SmartRecruiters's accepted list ## The other guides - [Greenhouse](https://atsprep.com/ats/greenhouse) — Greenhouse takes PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF and TXT, and will not parse a resume larger than 2.5 MB. Its own support docs name what makes a parse fail — columns, contact details in a header, abbreviated job titles and more. - [Oracle Taleo](https://atsprep.com/ats/taleo) — Oracle ships Taleo with a 1 MB default attachment limit and no resume parser of its own — parsing only works if the employer has enabled a third-party partner integration, so behaviour differs from one Taleo site to the next. - [Ashby](https://atsprep.com/ats/ashby) — Ashby accepts PDF, DOC and DOCX up to 50 MB but does not support Markdown. Its docs name the two reasons a resume fails to parse, and its better parser is an opt-in feature some employers never switch on. - [Workable](https://atsprep.com/ats/workable) — Workable accepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, HTML and ODT for a resume, with a 5 MB ceiling — while other attachments on the same form are allowed four times that size. - [Manatal](https://atsprep.com/ats/manatal) — Manatal takes PDF, DOC, DOCX and RTF, parses every resume the moment it lands with a parser it built rather than licensed, and keeps the original file where recruiters can open it. ## About ATSPrep ATSPrep (https://atsprep.com) is a free ATS resume checker and builder. It shows the exact text an applicant tracking system extracts from a resume, then grades each bullet on whether it carries evidence a reader can verify. - **Price:** free. Checking, importing, editing and exporting are all unpaid. No export paywall or watermark. A separate Job Hunt Pass is only a waitlist today. - **Account:** none required. An optional email checklist and product waitlist do not block the Studio. - **Your file:** parsed and exported inside the browser. The resume file itself is never uploaded. - **Optional:** one button-gated feature, semantic match, sends selected resume lines and job-posting requirement lines to a matching service. Never your name, email, phone, address or links, and nothing is stored. - **Offline:** works once the page has loaded. - **Accepts:** PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, or pasted plain text. Start here: https://atsprep.com/studio