Passport and ID photo sizes

You have a form in front of you and there is a number under the photo box: 2×2 inches, or 35×45 mm, or a pixel figure with no millimetres at all. Before you book a photo booth, you want to know what that number means and whether a picture already on your phone can be made to fit it.

This guide separates three things: which application asks for which size, why the digital version of that size is written in pixels, and the order to work in so that one step does not undo the next.

The country issuing the document sets the size

There is no international passport photo size. The framing rules for machine-readable travel documents come from a shared standard, but the piece of paper around the face is decided by the office issuing your document. This is why a size that is correct in one country is refused in another.

Two families cover most applications. The United States asks for a square photo measuring 2×2 inches — 51×51 millimetres in metric. The European Union, Schengen states, Germany and the UK all settle on 35×45 millimetres, a taller and narrower rectangle. India is the common exception: its passport portal fixes the uploaded file at an exact pixel size rather than a paper size.

The practical rule: the number on your own form wins. A template you found for a different country will be the wrong shape, and a photo cropped to the wrong proportions cannot be rescued by scaling — the head simply sits in the wrong place.

• 2×2 in (51×51 mm) — United States passport, visa and green card applications
• 35×45 mm — EU and Schengen countries, Germany, the United Kingdom
• 50×60 mm — Türkiye: passport, ID card, driving licence
• 630×810 px — India: the passport portal states the file size in pixels

What the sizes are in pixels

Each row below is the same photo written three ways. The millimetres describe the paper, the inches are the same measurement in US units, and the pixel figure is how large the file itself has to be for a 300 DPI print.

Why paper sizes turn into pixels

An upload page cannot measure your file in millimetres, because there is no paper inside a file. The only thing it can count is pixels. So an office asking for 35×45 mm is really asking for enough pixels to print at 35×45 mm, and the number that connects those two sentences is DPI.

DPI counts the dots packed into a single inch of print. Because an inch is exactly 25.4 millimetres, the arithmetic is a single line: turn the millimetres into inches first, then multiply by the resolution. For print work 300 DPI is the settled figure, and at that resolution a 45 millimetre edge comes out at 531 pixels. A fractional result is rounded off, because half a pixel does not exist.

You do not have to do this by hand — the Passport Photo Size tool prints the pixel figure in its result line once you pick a country and a resolution. Knowing the arithmetic is still worth it, because it tells you what an unfamiliar requirement is really asking for.

• The photo will be printed → 300 DPI, the standard figure for photo prints
• An online form demands more pixels → 600 DPI gives the same frame at twice the pixel count
• The picture will only appear on a display → DPI carries no meaning; the pixel count is the whole measurement

Will a photo taken at home be accepted?

The size is the easy part; a crop fixes it at any time. Applications are usually returned over things that happened while the shutter was open, and those cannot be repaired afterwards. The six settings below are what rescue a phone shot.

One caution about who decides: the office does. Getting the measurement right says nothing about the background or the lighting. Compare your result against the published guidance before you hand it in.

• The wall — stand in front of a plain, light, patternless wall, and leave half a metre between you and it so your shadow does not land on it
• The light — face a window; light coming from behind you turns the face dark, and a ceiling lamp casts a shadow under the nose
• The distance — hold the phone at arm's length and zoom instead of stepping closer; a close lens enlarges the nose and shrinks the ears
• The framing — head in the middle of the frame, shoulders level; a centre crop cannot straighten a head that leans
• The expression — look straight into the lens, mouth closed, eyes open and not covered by hair
• Clothing — do not wear the colour of the wall behind you, or the shoulder line disappears

The order to work in

The sequence matters, because each step decides what the next one receives. Build the frame first and deal with the file size last; work the other way round and the crop forces you to compress the picture a second time.

To see how many pixels your file has, open it in the gallery and swipe up: Android opens a Details panel and iPhone shows an info row, and both print the pixel dimensions and the file size. Without those two numbers you cannot tell which setting needs changing.

A source photo larger than the target is fine; one smaller than the target cannot be saved. Enlarging a 300 pixel image to 700 pixels invents nothing; it simply blurs what was already recorded. So start from the full-resolution frame in your camera roll, not the shrunken copy a messaging app sent you.

• Step 1 — the frame: crop to the country's size with the Passport Photo Size tool
• Step 2 — the background: if the wall is not plain, put the subject on a clean white one
• Step 3 — the pixels: if the form names an exact pixel figure, set it with the Image Resizer
• Step 4 — the file size: leave any KB limit on the upload page until the end

Printing and uploading ask for different numbers

The same document can be applied for on two routes, and they state different requirements. On the print route the office gives millimetres or inches, describing paper to be trimmed. On the upload route it usually gives pixels and a file size, describing what will land on its server.

Two phrasings appear again and again on upload pages, and the difference between them matters. "At least" sets no ceiling — a larger file causes no trouble. "Exactly" leaves no room at all; the file has to be that size. India's 630×810 pixel requirement is of the second kind.

Digital minimums are often higher than the print size implies. The United Kingdom asks online photos to be at least 600 pixels wide and 750 pixels tall, while a 35×45 mm print at 300 DPI is only 413×531 pixels. So a file that would print perfectly can still be refused by the upload form, and 600 DPI is the straightforward answer.

Frequently asked questions

How many pixels should a passport photo be?

It depends on the size and the resolution you print at. At 300 DPI a 2×2 inch US photo is 600×600 pixels, a 35×45 mm photo is 413×531 pixels and a 50×60 mm photo is 591×709 pixels. Online forms often set their own, larger minimum; 600 DPI produces the same frame at twice the pixel count and usually clears it.

Can I use a 35×45 mm photo for a US application?

No. The United States asks for a square 2×2 inch photo, and 35×45 mm is a taller rectangle — the proportions are different, so the head would sit wrongly in the frame even after scaling. Crop the original again to the square size instead of resizing a European print.

What is a biometric photo?

It is a portrait held to a fixed standard so that software, rather than a person, can compare it: the measurement, the proportion of the head, where the eyes look and what sits behind them are all prescribed. The point is that the picture can be measured, not that it flatters — which is why the framing is taken out of the photographer's hands.

Can I take a passport photo at home?

You can handle the size and the crop at home. Acceptance is decided by the office receiving the application, and it looks at more than the measurement: a plain background, even lighting, gaze direction and how large the head sits inside the frame. With a shot that meets those conditions, a file prepared at home does the job.

Does cropping change the background?

No. A crop only sets the frame; colours are untouched. Putting the subject on a white background is a separate step, and it works on a plain wall rather than on a busy scene, because the process compares colours instead of recognising a person.

Last updated: August 27, 2026