The editor opens on a 2 × 2 passport photo: 2 × 2 inches square, 600 × 600 pixels at 300 DPI, the size the State Department states for a printed US passport photo. Drag the frame over your face and save. One of the passport size photo sizes.
2x2 passport photo size: the US rules
Printed size
2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm)pl.usembassy.gov
In pixels at 300 DPI
600 × 600 pxcomputed: 2 in × 300
Head height
1 to 1 3/8 in (25 to 35 mm)pl.usembassy.gov
Background
plain white or off-whitepl.usembassy.gov
Photo age
taken within the last 6 monthspl.usembassy.gov
Output format
– / –
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JPEG · PNG · WEBP · AVIF · HEIC · up to 50 at once · max 30 MB each
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PNG
JPEG
AVIF
WEBP
Advanced settings1 on
SmallerAutoBetter
Chosen automatically to reach your size floor.
A hard cap for the number your form demands.
KB
At or over 54 KB: quality rises to reach it.
Max resolution
×
Empty side keeps the ratio. Never enlarges.
Presets
Every named size, one editor
The same editor, the size already pressed. Pick the document or the platform.
Source: photo.jpg, 576.8 KB at 1920×1280, through the preset this page opens on (the centre cropped to the ratio and scaled to the size), then the engine at its defaults. The row is the real output.
Every byte count is the size of the actual file our engine produced from the named source, the same bytes you would download, not an estimate. The reference photo is one of our own photographs, an iguana on a branch, and the camera photo is a real one too. Drop your own file into the tool above to rerun any of them. How we measure names the sources and the settings.
Answered
What are the US passport photo dimensions in pixels and in mm (51 × 51)?
600 × 600 pixels at 300 DPI, and 1200 × 1200 at 600 DPI; in metric the photo is 51 × 51 mm.
The arithmetic is two inches times the dots per inch, and 300 is the print resolution a passport counter assumes when the rule is written in inches and says nothing about pixels. This page exports the 300 DPI figure, because it is the one every online form that names a pixel count for this photo starts from. When a print shop asks for more, type 1200 × 1200 into Custom size as px: the same square, twice the resolution. A size typed in inches converts at 300 DPI, so px is the way to name the larger figure. Nothing about the framing changes.
The rules
Beyond the size: four checks on a 2 × 2 print
Four things beyond the size, each from the US Embassy in Poland’s photo requirements page, which restates the State Department’s rules and is the page we could read in full.
The department’s own page is the final word.
1
Head 1 to 1 3/8 inches
Measured from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head, 25 to 35 mm. On a 2 inch frame that is 50% to 69% of the height. Too small a head is the common failure from a photo taken far away and cropped loosely.
2
Plain white or off-white
The background must be plain, in white or off-white. The department’s online photo tool repeats it. A textured wall, a shadow or a coloured door fails before the size is measured; a plain sheet in even light passes.
3
Six months, in colour, on photo paper
Taken within the last six months, in colour, printed on photo-quality paper. An older photo fails on age whatever its quality. The export keeps the colour as shot; the paper is the printer’s job.
4
No glasses
Not acceptable unless needed for medical reasons, and a medical certificate may be required. The official cropping tool at tsg.phototool.state.gov says the same, and adds that it is meant for in-person and mail applications only.
Answered
What else decides whether a passport photo is accepted?
Six things decide whether a photo is accepted: 2 × 2 inches square, taken in the last six months, in colour, on a plain white or off-white background, with the head between 1 and 1 3/8 inches from chin to crown, and a neutral expression or a natural smile with both eyes open.
The editor above sets the size and the print sheet; it cannot judge the background, the expression or the clothes for you. Every rule from the State Department’s own pages, from smiling and what to wear to glasses, babies and the online renewal’s file window, is in US passport photo requirements.
Answered
How do I get the head between 1 and 1 3/8 inches?
Make the head take between half and just over two thirds of the frame’s height: 1 inch of 2 is 50%, and 1 3/8 inches of 2 is 69%.
The editor draws the square over the photo on the stage, so the proportion is easy to judge by eye. Pull a corner to scale the square and drag its middle to move it, with a mouse or a finger. Stop when the chin sits about a sixth of the way up from the bottom edge and the top of the hair a similar distance below the top edge. Shoot with room around the head; a photo framed tight at the camera leaves nothing for the square to take in, and enlarging a small crop makes the print soft.
Answered
Will a 600 × 600 file work for the online passport renewal upload?
Yes, with the floor this page arms. The renewal’s upload page takes a JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF of 54 KB to 10 MB, and Min file size opens at 54 KB so the file cannot land under it.
The floor matters at this size. Our 9.8 MB camera photo cropped to 600 × 600 came to 35 KB at Auto, under the renewal’s minimum. With the floor armed, the engine raised quality until the file reached it and returned 59.2 KB: more detail kept, not empty bytes added. The readout under the row prints the exact bytes against the floor. The rest of the upload is settled too: a square photo, a plain JPEG, EXIF and GPS stripped, no filter applied. The digital upload shape, for the DS-160, has its own page: resize an image to 600 × 600 pixels. Same square, different form.
File size
What does a 2 × 2 photo weigh at 600 × 600?
59 KB as a plain JPEG from our 576.8 KB reference photo, and 35 KB from our 9.8 MB camera photo at Auto, which is under the online renewal’s 54 KB floor. With the floor armed, as this page opens, the camera crop comes back at 59.2 KB.
File
Pixels
Size
Reference photo
1920 × 1280
576.8 KB
2 × 2 in crop
600 × 600
59 KB
Camera photo, 2 × 2 in crop
600 × 600
35 KB
The same, 54 KB floor armed
600 × 600
59.2 KB
Sources: photo.jpg, our reference photo, 576.8 KB at 1920×1280, and our 9.8 MB camera photo, each cropped at the centre to 1:1, scaled to 600 × 600 and encoded once by the engine: at its defaults, and the camera crop again with Min file size at 54 KB. Each row is the file the engine produced.
Every byte count is the size of the actual file our engine produced from the named source, the same bytes you would download, not an estimate. The reference photo is one of our own photographs, an iguana on a branch, and the camera photo is a real one too. Drop your own file into the tool above to rerun any of them. How we measure names the sources and the settings.
Answered
How do I print a 2 × 2 passport photo at home on a 4 × 6 sheet?
A 4 × 6 inch sheet at 300 DPI is 1800 × 1200 pixels, so 6 copies of a 600 × 600 photo fit on it, three across and two down, with the cut lines on the 2 inch marks.
The editor exports the single 600 × 600 file; the layout is your printer app’s or the print counter’s job. Print in colour on photo-quality paper, which the State Department’s rules require. If the printer app asks for a higher resolution, export the same crop at 1200 × 1200 through Custom size and hand it that instead.
Answered
Is a 2 × 2 passport photo the same as a 600 × 600 visa photo?
The same pixels, a different rule set.
2 inches at 300 DPI is 600 pixels, so the export here is the 600 × 600 square a visa form asks for, and one drop can serve both. The difference is what each authority measures. The printed passport photo is checked in inches: the 2 × 2 print, the head between 1 and 1 3/8 inches. The DS-160’s digital photo is checked in pixels, with head and eye positions and a file rule of its own, all on the State Department’s digital photo page. The 600 × 600 passport photo page opens on the same square and walks through that form; this page is for the print.
Be sure first
When the 2 × 2 preset is the wrong tool
A UK, French or Indian document?
Those are 35 × 45 mm, a 7:9 portrait, not a square. The 35 × 45 mm and 3.5 × 4.5 cm pages open on that frame with their own rules.
A Canadian passport?
50 × 70 mm in print, and a 3:2 JPEG of at least 1200 × 1800 for the online renewal. Its page carries both.
A background that is not plain?
We frame and size; we do not remove or replace backgrounds. Shoot again against a plain white or off-white wall.
A verdict on compliance?
The State Department's photo tool is the final check for in-person and mail applications; the upload page is the check for the online renewal.
The size is already pressed above. One drop settles most of these.
Q:What is the US passport photo size?
2 × 2 inches, which is 51 × 51 mm, with the head 1 to 1 3/8 inches from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head. That is the State Department's rule for the printed photo, as the US Embassy in Poland restates it. At 300 DPI the square is 600 × 600 pixels, the size the 2 × 2 preset exports.
Q:What size is a 2x2 passport photo in pixels?
600 × 600 pixels at 300 DPI, which is what the editor exports, and 1200 × 1200 at 600 DPI. The arithmetic is 2 inches times the dots per inch. In metric the photo is 51 × 51 mm. A form that states pixels checks the pixels; a print counter reads the inches and applies its own resolution. Type 1200 × 1200 into Custom size when you want the larger file for printing.
Q:What DPI should a passport photo be?
300 DPI is the print resolution the size assumes, and the figure the editor uses to turn 2 inches into 600 pixels. DPI is a label on the file, not a property of the pixels: the same 600 × 600 image prints at 2 inches at 300 DPI and at 4 inches at 150. The State Department's rules fix the printed size and the head height; the pixels only have to print it sharp.
Q:How do I resize a photo to 2x2 inches without stretching?
Drop the photo and drag the square frame; the 2 × 2 preset locks it to 1:1, so it can only move and scale, never distort. Save resamples the region inside the frame to 600 × 600 pixels and leaves the proportions as they were. A stretched face comes from typing a width and a height into a plain resize box; here the numbers belong to the frame, and the picture stays as it was shot.
Q:Can I take my own passport photo with my phone?
Yes. The State Department's rules, as the US Embassy in Poland restates them, ask for a colour photo taken within the last six months against a plain white or off-white background. The head sits between 1 and 1 3/8 inches, and no glasses unless medically needed. A phone in even light against a plain wall meets that. Shoot with room around the head, then crop to 2 × 2 here.
Q:What makes a good passport picture?
One that passes the State Department's rules and fills the frame well. Take it in the last six months, in colour, against plain white or off-white, with a neutral expression or a natural smile and both eyes open. Leave room around the head when you shoot, then crop so the head takes half to just over two thirds of the 2 inch frame.
Q:Will my file work for the online passport renewal upload?
The renewal's upload page takes a JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF of 54 KB to 10 MB. A 600 × 600 JPEG can land under that floor: our 9.8 MB camera photo cropped here came to 35 KB at Auto. This page opens with Min file size at 54 KB, so the engine raises quality to reach it: 59.2 KB for the same crop, with no padding. Clear the field for a form with no floor.
Q:How big must my head be in a 2x2 passport photo?
Between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head, on the State Department's rules. On a 2 inch frame that is 50% to 69% of the height: half the frame to just over two thirds. Drag the frame on the stage until the chin sits near the bottom quarter and the top of the head near the top quarter, and judge the share by eye.
Q:Can I print a 2x2 passport photo on a 4x6 sheet at home?
Yes. A 4 × 6 inch sheet at 300 DPI is 1800 × 1200 pixels, so 6 copies of a 600 × 600 photo fit on it, three across and two down. The editor exports the single 600 × 600 file; your printer's app or the print counter lays the copies out. Print on photo-quality paper in colour, which the State Department's rules require, and cut on the 2 inch lines.
Q:What is the difference between a 2x2 passport photo and a 600x600 visa photo?
The same pixels, a different rule set. 2 × 2 inches at 300 DPI is 600 × 600, so one export serves both frames. The printed passport photo is measured in inches, with the head band in inches. The DS-160's digital photo is measured in pixels, with its own head and eye positions and file rules on the State Department's page. The 600 × 600 page opens on the same square and walks through that form.
Q:What are the American passport size photo dimensions in mm and cm?
51 × 51 mm, or 5.1 × 5.1 cm, the metric size the State Department's rules print beside the inches. It is close to, but not the same as, the 35 × 45 mm frame the UK and France use: a square against a 7:9 portrait. A 2 × 2 crop cannot be cut from a 35 × 45 one without losing the head band, so pick the page for the document you are filing.
Q:Does a US passport photo have to be in colour?
Yes. The State Department's rules, as restated on the US Embassy in Poland's page, ask for a colour photo taken within the last six months, printed on photo-quality paper, against a plain white or off-white background. A black and white print fails that rule. The export here keeps the colour as shot; the Color tab's Mono switch is for other jobs, not this one.
Q:Do you keep my passport photo?
No. We keep nothing: files are processed and wiped automatically, never archived and never used for anything else. Saving strips EXIF metadata, including the GPS location a phone writes into the file, so the photo you print or upload carries no record of where it was taken. There is no account, no watermark and no charge for the 2 × 2 crop.
