Passport and visa photos are rejected for small reasons: the photo is a few millimetres too wide, or the head takes up too much or too little of the frame. These tools crop your photo to the exact size a country asks for, show where the head should sit, and lay out copies on a sheet you can print at home or at a photo kiosk. Everything happens in your browser; your photo is never uploaded.
Photo sizes by country
| Country or document | Photo size | Head height |
|---|---|---|
| United States — passport and visa | 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm) | 25–35 mm |
| United Kingdom — passport | 35 × 45 mm | 29–34 mm |
| Schengen area — visa | 35 × 45 mm | 32–36 mm |
| India — passport | 35 × 45 mm | 36–38 mm |
| India — OCI and visas abroad | 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm) | 25–35 mm |
| Canada — passport | 50 × 70 mm | 31–36 mm |
| Australia — passport | 35 × 45 mm | 32–36 mm |
| Japan — passport | 35 × 45 mm | 32–36 mm |
| China — visa | 33 × 48 mm | 28–33 mm |
| Türkiye — biometric | 50 × 60 mm | 32–36 mm |
| Brazil — passport | 50 × 70 mm | 31–36 mm |
India changed its passport photo to the 35 × 45 mm international standard on 1 September 2025; the older square format is still used for OCI cards and visa applications made abroad. Requirements do change, so check the official website of the office you are applying to before you submit.
What these tools do — and what they don't
The tools handle the geometry: exact dimensions at print resolution, a guide band for head height, and a printable 4×6 inch sheet with several copies. They do not change your background, fix lighting or judge whether a photo will be accepted. Start from a sharp, evenly lit photo taken straight on, against a plain light background, with a neutral expression — the rules that almost every country shares.
Uploading instead of printing
Many online applications ask for a digital photo under a file size limit, often 100 KB to 1 MB. After making the photo, pass it to Compress Image to Target Size to meet the limit without changing its dimensions.
Why passport photos get rejected
Size is the easy part, and it is rarely why an application comes back. The usual reasons are about the photograph itself, and no cropping tool can fix them after the fact:
- Head size and position. Each country specifies how much of the frame the head must fill and where the eyes sit. Our tools draw those guides so you can see the fit before you commit.
- Background. Plain, light, uniform, with no shadow cast on it. A wall with texture or a shadow behind the shoulders is a common failure.
- Lighting on the face. Even, with no shadow across one side and no flash reflection on the forehead or glasses.
- Expression and pose. Neutral, mouth closed, both eyes open, facing the camera squarely.
- Age of the photo. Many authorities, including the US State Department, require a photo taken within the last six months.
- Digital alterations. Filters, beauty modes and background replacement are grounds for rejection; phone cameras applying these automatically is a real problem.
Printed and digital are different requirements
A printed photo is judged in millimetres and needs photo-quality paper, matte or glossy, never a home print on ordinary paper and never a photocopy or scan of an existing print. An online application is judged in pixels and file size, and usually enforces both a minimum resolution and a maximum file size — which is why the last step is often compressing to an exact size rather than resizing again.
Getting the millimetres right at home is harder than it looks. We printed a 2x2 photo the usual ways: Chrome at its default 100% put it on paper at 6.25 inches, and Windows’ right-click Print at 11.7 inches with the head trimmed. Our guide on printing a 2x2 passport photo at home lists the settings that came out at exactly 2 inches; they apply to any size on this page.
When a form states its limit in kilobytes, aim a little under it: a file your computer calls 100 KB can be 102,400 bytes and be refused by a check counting 100,000.
Your photo stays with you
A passport photo is exactly the kind of image you shouldn't hand to an unknown server. Here it is processed on your own device, never uploaded, and not stored anywhere.