ID and passport photo sizes: millimetres, pixels and head height

Read the requirement in the right order

Start with the finished print size in millimetres, then the head height range, then the background and expression rules. A Chinese 1-inch photo is 25 × 35 mm; a 2-inch photo is 35 × 49 mm; a Chinese passport photo is 33 × 48 mm; a US passport photo is 51 × 51 mm; a Schengen visa photo is commonly 35 × 45 mm. These are different specifications, not interchangeable “small” and “large” sizes.

If the requirement gives pixels, use those directly. If it gives only millimetres, multiply by the DPI and divide by 25.4. At 300 DPI, 25 × 35 mm becomes about 295 × 413 px; 35 × 45 mm becomes about 413 × 531 px. At 600 DPI the pixel count doubles, but the print size does not.

Head height and framing

Many rejections come from framing, not from the print size. The head, from chin to crown, usually needs to occupy a specified share of the photo height, often around 70–80% for passport and visa photos. Leave a small margin above the head, keep the face centred, and do not crop the chin or the top of the head.

For a 35 × 45 mm visa photo, a head height of about 32–36 mm is typical, but always use the receiving authority’s current diagram. A photo that is the right size but has the wrong head height will still be rejected.

Background, expression and editing

Use a plain, light background unless the authority specifies white or blue. Keep the face evenly lit, remove red-eye, and avoid heavy beauty filters: a smoothed face can fail identity checks. Glasses should not hide the eyes, and head coverings are allowed only for religious reasons where the rules permit them.

Do not stretch a photo to fit the aspect ratio. Crop from the original, keep the face proportions, and export at the highest quality the printer accepts. A 300 DPI JPEG at quality 90 is normally better than an upscaled 600 DPI file made from a small image.

Printing and digital upload

For a print shop, send the exact millimetre size and ask for “no scaling” or “actual size”. For an online application, check the maximum file size and format before exporting; many portals reject files above a few hundred kilobytes or require JPEG rather than PNG.

Keep the original uncropped file. If the application is rejected, you can recrop from the original instead of starting from a compressed copy. Check the authority’s photo tool or checklist last, because the checklist is the document that decides acceptance.

How to read the numbers in this guide

Values here are nominal. A manufacturer may allow a tolerance of a few tenths of a millimetre on a small part, or several millimetres on furniture and clothing, and an office may measure a photo print differently. Treat the table as a starting point, then confirm with the item or the authority that will receive it.

Conversions are rounded for display, but the calculation uses the full factor. Converting back can therefore return 0.999 or 1.001 instead of 1. When a decision depends on a threshold, work from the original unit rather than the rounded display value.

The guides are edited independently of advertising. An ad never changes a value or the order of a table. A correction is checked against the public standard and the data file, then the site is rebuilt, so the guide, the calculator and the category page show the same number.

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