Passport Photo
Passport Photo Requirements: the exact specification, and how to meet it
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The full US passport photo requirements, in numbers
Size is 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm) square. A digital submission must be between 600 x 600 and 1200 x 1200 pixels, in colour, in JPEG format, and under 240KB. A printed submission needs 300dpi on photo-quality paper, which is exactly what 600 pixels across two inches gives you.
Head size is the requirement people miss most often. Chin to crown must measure between 1 and 1 3/8 inches (25 to 35 mm), and your eye line must sit between 1 1/8 and 1 3/8 inches (28 to 35 mm) from the bottom of the frame. A photo that is technically the right pixel size and the wrong head size is rejected.
The photo must have been taken within the last six months, show your current appearance, and be unedited beyond cropping and colour correction. Filters, beauty modes and any change to your features invalidate it.
Background, lighting and expression rules
The background must be plain white or off-white with no shadows, patterns, objects or other people in frame. Shadows cast onto the background behind you are the most common reason an otherwise correct photo fails, and they come from standing too close to the wall.
Lighting must be even across your face with no harsh shadows and no flash reflection in glasses — glasses are in fact no longer permitted at all for US passports except with a signed medical statement. Your expression should be neutral or a natural smile with both eyes open and your mouth closed.
Head coverings are permitted only for religious or medical reasons with a signed statement, and your full face must remain visible from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead in every case.
How to take a passport photo at home
Stand about 60cm in front of a plain white wall, then have someone photograph you from about 1.2 metres away at eye level. Distance from the wall is what stops your shadow falling on it; distance from the camera is what stops the lens distorting your features, which a phone held at arm's length always does.
Use daylight from a window in front of you rather than a flash or overhead lighting. Overhead light casts shadows into your eye sockets and under your nose, and a direct flash produces a hotspot on the forehead and a hard shadow behind.
Then crop to a perfect square with your head at the correct proportion, check the background is genuinely white, and export at 600 x 600 pixels or larger. That final step is a cropping and resizing job, which the free tools here do without an account.
What LaFoto will and will not do for a passport photo
The free image cropper crops to a true 2:1 square ratio, the image resizer hits the exact pixel target, the background remover replaces a messy background with clean white, and the photo enhancer corrects a colour cast from indoor lighting. All four run in your browser and none of them uploads your file.
What LaFoto will never do is generate a passport photo. A passport photo is an identity document and must be a real, recent, unedited photograph of you. Any tool offering to generate one is offering to help you commit document fraud, and no amount of image quality changes that.
How it works
Passport Photo Requirements
- 01
Shoot it correctly
Plain white wall, 60cm behind you, camera 1.2 metres away at eye level, daylight from the front, neutral expression, no glasses.
- 02
Crop to a true square
Crop 1:1 with your head between 1 and 1 3/8 inches of the frame height and your eyes just above the middle.
- 03
Export to spec
Resize to 600 x 600 pixels or larger, save as JPEG under 240KB for digital, or print at 300dpi for a physical 2 x 2 inch photo.
What people use the passport photo for
A new adult passport
The standard 2 x 2 inch case, where head size and background are what usually fail.
A baby or child passport
Infants may have their eyes closed and can be photographed lying on a plain white sheet, but the size rules are identical.
A renewal
The photo must be from the last six months and show your current appearance, so an old file will be rejected even if it once passed.
Visa and ID photos
Many countries use different dimensions entirely. Check the specification for the issuing authority before cropping to US measurements.
Frequently asked questions
- What size is a passport photo?
- A US passport photo is 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm) square. Digital submissions must be 600 x 600 to 1200 x 1200 pixels as a JPEG under 240KB; printed photos need 300dpi on photo paper.
- Can you smile in a passport photo?
- A natural smile with your mouth closed is acceptable for a US passport. A broad smile showing teeth, raised eyebrows or a squint is not, because it changes the facial measurements used for matching.
- What should you wear for a passport photo?
- Everyday clothing in a colour that contrasts with a white background — avoid white and very pale tops, which merge into it. Uniforms are not permitted, and glasses are no longer allowed without a signed medical statement.
- Can you take your own passport photo at home?
- Yes, provided it meets the specification. Have someone else take it rather than using a selfie: arm's length distorts facial proportions, and the head-size measurement is one of the most common reasons a photo is rejected.
- What are the baby passport photo requirements?
- The same 2 x 2 inch size and white background apply. Infants may have their eyes closed or mouth open, no one else may be visible in frame, and photographing them on a plain white sheet from directly above is the usual approach.
- Can I use an AI-generated passport photo?
- No. A passport photo is an identity document and must be a real, recent, unedited photograph of you. Submitting a generated image is document fraud. Editing is limited to cropping, resizing and colour correction.
- Why was my passport photo rejected?
- The most common causes are head size outside the 1 to 1 3/8 inch range, a shadow on the background from standing too close to the wall, glasses, a photo older than six months, and beauty filters applied by a phone camera without you noticing.
- How do I make the background white?
- Reshoot against a plain white wall with yourself standing well clear of it, or use the free background remover to replace the background with white. Removing a background is permitted; altering your face is not.
Keep exploring
More from LaFoto
US passport photo specification
- Size
- 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm)
- Digital
- 600–1200px square, JPEG under 240KB
- 300dpi on photo paper
- Head size
- 1 to 1 3/8 inches, chin to crown
- Eye line
- 1 1/8 to 1 3/8 inches from bottom
- Age
- Taken within the last 6 months
In practice
The measurement people miss
Head size fails more passport photos than any other rule. Chin to crown must be between 1 and 1 3/8 inches within a 2 inch frame, which means your head occupies roughly half to two-thirds of the height — noticeably more than a casual portrait crop.
A photo can be exactly 600 by 600 pixels, on a perfect white background, with a correct neutral expression, and still be rejected because the head is too small in frame. Crop to the head measurement, then check the pixel size.
Three ways in
Which passport photo are you preparing?
The standard case
Same 2 x 2 inch specification, and the photo must be from the last six months showing your current appearance. An old file that once passed will be rejected now.
- Six months maximum, no exceptions.
- Glasses are no longer permitted.
- Neutral expression or a closed-mouth smile.
Different practicalities, identical rules
Infants may have their eyes closed or mouth open, but the size, background and framing rules do not change. No one else may appear in the frame, including a supporting hand.
- Photograph on a plain white sheet from above.
- No hands or arms visible in frame.
- Eyes closed is acceptable for infants only.
Uploading rather than printing
Online applications need 600 to 1200 pixels square as a JPEG under 240KB. That is a resize and compress job on a correctly cropped photo.
- 600px square minimum, 1200px maximum.
- Under 240KB — compress after resizing.
- JPEG only; PNG uploads are rejected.
Detail
Passport photo questions
The rules that decide acceptance, and the ones people get wrong.
Whether you can wear glasses
No. US passport photos have not permitted glasses since 2016 except with a signed medical statement.
Whether you can smile
A natural closed-mouth smile is acceptable. A broad smile showing teeth changes the facial measurements used for matching and is not.
What to wear
Everyday clothing in a colour that contrasts with white. Avoid white and pale tops, which merge into the background. Uniforms are not permitted.
Whether a selfie works
Poorly. Arm's length distorts facial proportions noticeably, and head size is one of the most commonly failed measurements. Have someone else take it.
Whether an AI-generated photo is acceptable
No. A passport photo is an identity document and must be a real, recent, unedited photograph. Submitting a generated image is document fraud.
Related
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Passport Photo at a glance
- Runs in
- Your browser — nothing to install
- Account
- Not required to start
- Watermark
- None on the download
- Output
- PNG, JPEG or WebP
- Commercial use
- Permitted under plain-language terms
- Training
- Your images are never added to a training set
Keep exploring
Tools that work with the passport photo
Every one runs on the same engine, so a result moves between them without re-uploading.
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