What Size Should a Passport Photo Be? A Country-by-Country Guide
There is no single worldwide passport photo size, which is why so many applications get rejected. The United States wants a 2x2 inch square, India and most of Europe want a 35x45mm portrait, and digital upload portals add their own pixel and file-size rules on top. Get one number wrong and the form bounces your photo back.
This guide lists the exact passport photo dimensions for the countries people ask about most — in millimetres, inches and pixels — explains the rules that sit behind the numbers, and shows how to resize and compress a compliant photo yourself, for free and without uploading it anywhere.
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Passport photo sizes by country
These are the standard photo dimensions as of 2026. Pixel sizes assume a typical 300 DPI digital photo, which is what most online portals expect.
- United States — 2x2 inches (51x51mm), 600x600px square, head 1 to 1 3/8 inches tall.
- India — 35x45mm portrait; online portals often want 350x350px to 600x600px depending on the service.
- United Kingdom — 35x45mm portrait (digital uploads measured by head size, not a print).
- Schengen / EU — 35x45mm portrait, with the face filling 70–80% of the frame.
- Canada — 50x70mm (2x2.75 inches), with the face 31–36mm from chin to crown.
- Australia — 35x45mm portrait, similar to the UK and EU standard.
Why the head size matters as much as the photo size
Most rejections are not about the overall photo dimensions but about how big the head is within them. Authorities specify a chin-to-crown measurement — for the US that is roughly 1 to 1 3/8 inches, for the EU 70–80% of the frame height — because facial-recognition systems need a consistent face size to work.
That is why you usually cannot just resize a casual photo to the right outer dimensions and submit it. You also need to crop so the head sits at the correct height and is centred. Resize for the canvas size, crop for the head size — both have to be right.
Pixels, print size and DPI explained
Printed requirements are given in millimetres or inches; digital uploads are given in pixels. The bridge between them is DPI (dots per inch). At 300 DPI, a 2x2 inch US photo is 600x600 pixels, and a 35x45mm photo is about 413x531 pixels.
If a portal states a pixel size, match it exactly. If it only gives a print size, aim for 300 DPI and you will be safe. Submitting a photo that is far below the required resolution is another common cause of rejection.
How to prepare a compliant photo yourself
You do not need a photo studio. Take a sharp, front-facing photo against a plain light wall in even daylight, then prepare it in three steps.
- Crop so your head is centred and at the required height — our Crop tool keeps the frame square or to a fixed ratio.
- Resize to the exact pixel dimensions your country or portal specifies.
- If the upload box has a file-size cap, compress the result to fit — many sit at 100KB or 200KB.
Keeping your photo private
A passport photo is a sensitive identity document, so it should not be uploaded to an unknown server just to be resized. PixelResize does all of its cropping, resizing and compression inside your browser. The image is processed on your own device and discarded when you close the tab — nothing is uploaded or stored.
Key takeaways
- There is no universal size — the US uses 2x2 inches (600x600px), most of the world uses 35x45mm.
- Head size within the frame is as strictly enforced as the outer dimensions.
- At 300 DPI, 2x2 inches equals 600x600 pixels; 35x45mm equals about 413x531 pixels.
- Crop for head position, resize for canvas size, then compress to any KB limit.
- Always confirm your specific country's official spec before submitting.