The editor opens on an exact 600 × 600 passport photo square, the shape the DS-160 states in pixels, with Min file size at 54 KB, the online renewal's floor. Drag the frame, save, and type the form's file-size ceiling if its page states one. One of the passport size photo sizes.
600x600 passport photo: what the size means
The size
600 × 600 px, 2 × 2 in at 300 DPIcomputed: 600 ÷ 300
Printed size
exactly 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm)gy.usembassy.gov
Pixel and file-size rules
on the State Department's photo pagestravel.state.gov
Background
plain white or off-whitegy.usembassy.gov
Photo age
taken within the last six monthsgy.usembassy.gov
Output format
– / –
Drop images or browse
JPEG · PNG · WEBP · AVIF · HEIC · up to 50 at once · max 30 MB each
HEIC
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 is 600 × 600 pixels in cm and inches?
2 × 2 inches, or 5.08 × 5.08 cm, at 300 DPI.
That is the US passport photo’s 2 × 2 inches turned into pixels: 2 × 300 = 600. The conversion only holds at that resolution. The same 600 × 600 file prints at 4 inches square at 150 DPI and at 1 inch at 600. That is why an online form states pixels rather than inches: the upload cannot know how you will print it, so it counts what it can count. This page states the size in every unit because forms do too, but the number the upload checks is 600 × 600, and that is what Save exports.
Answered
How do I make a picture exactly 600 × 600 pixels?
Drop the photo, drag the square, save.
The editor opens on Crop with the 600 × 600 preset pressed, so the frame is locked to 1:1 and can only move and scale; the export is the region inside it resampled to exactly 600 × 600, never stretched. Pull a corner to change how much of the photo the square takes in, and drag the middle to move it. The Crop panel prints the output pixels before you save. For a larger square, when the form’s page allows a range, type 1200 × 1200 into Custom size as px: the same 2 × 2 inches at 600 DPI, four times the pixels, the frame still square. Pick by what you have; a phone photo has the pixels to spare and a small scan does not.
The rules
What does the DS-160 check in a digital photo?
Its pixel range, its shape, where the head and eyes sit, the format and a file ceiling, all stated on the State Department’s digital photo pages.
Those numbers are not reprinted here: the department’s page is the only authority for them and it can change. What we could read in full is the US Embassy in Guyana’s consular page, which restates the visa photo rules below.
1
Exactly 2 × 2 inches, in colour
51 × 51 mm, which is the 600 × 600 square at 300 DPI this page opens on. The frame is settled before you read anything else.
2
Taken within the last six months
A photo from an older passport or visa fails on age whatever its quality. Shoot a new one and crop it here the same day.
3
Plain white or off-white background
No eyeglasses, except for a documented medical reason. A textured wall or a coloured door fails before the pixels are counted.
4
Upload with the online application
Nonimmigrant applicants may upload the digital photo with the form; if the upload is rejected, they bring one printed photo to the interview.
The export meets the checks a form runs first: a square at 600 × 600, a plain JPEG, EXIF and GPS stripped, no filter applied. The file ceiling is yours to type into Max file size from the page that states it.
Answered
How do I get a 600 × 600 photo under the form's file-size limit?
Type the ceiling from the form’s page into Max file size in Advanced settings before you save, and the file lands at or under it, never over.
At 600 × 600 a plain JPEG is small: our reference photo weighs 59 KB at the engine’s defaults, so a ceiling in the hundreds of kilobytes is met before the cap even bites. When it does, the engine searches quality for the most detail that fits under the number, and the compare view shows the result at full zoom before you download.
Small can be too small. The online passport renewal refuses a photo under 54 KB, and our 9.8 MB camera photo cropped to 600 × 600 came to 35 KB at Auto. So Min file size opens at 54 KB: the engine raises quality until the file reaches it, and the same crop came back at 59.2 KB. It never pads a file with empty bytes. The readout under the row prints the exact bytes against both numbers. Clear the floor if your form states none; a larger square, 1200 × 1200, weighs more on its own.
File size
What does a 600 × 600 passport photo weigh?
59 KB from our 576.8 KB reference photo, with no cap set, and 35 KB from our 9.8 MB camera photo at Auto: under the online renewal’s 54 KB floor, until the floor this page arms lifts it to 59.2 KB.
File
Pixels
Size
Reference photo
1920 × 1280
576.8 KB
600 × 600 square
600 × 600
59 KB
Camera photo, 600 × 600 square
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 with no Max file size set, 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
Does the DS-160 accept PNG or HEIC?
The State Department’s page lists the format the form takes; read it there.
Whatever you drop here, a JPEG comes back: the tool preselects JPEG for document photos, so a PNG or a WebP converts on save, with EXIF stripped and no filter applied. The one exception is an iPhone HEIC, which the browser cannot decode for editing. The converter link appears under the drop zone when you drop one; convert it to JPG there, then drop the result on this page. A screenshot of a photo is a PNG of a JPEG and loses detail twice; use the original file from the camera roll.
Answered
Is 600 × 600 the same as a 2 × 2 passport photo?
Yes in pixels, no in paperwork.
2 inches at 300 DPI is 600 pixels, so the square this page exports is the printed passport photo’s size, and one drop can serve both. The printed photo is checked in inches, with the head between 1 and 1 3/8 inches on the State Department’s rules; the digital photo is checked in pixels, with the head and eye bands its page states. The 2 × 2 passport photo page is written for the print and the 4 × 6 sheet; this one is for the upload. Same size, different form.
Be sure first
When the 600 × 600 preset is the wrong tool
A printed passport photo?
The same square, but the rules are in inches: the 2 × 2 inch page carries them with the 4 × 6 sheet arithmetic.
A rectangular ID size?
The UK, France and Indian forms want 35 × 45 mm, a 7:9 portrait; those pages open on that frame.
Another portal's 600 × 600?
The preset is the same. Take the KB rule from that portal and type it into Max file size; the square does not change.
A verdict on compliance?
The form's own check on upload is the last word, and the State Department's page is the rule book; we frame, size and cap.
The size is already pressed above. One drop settles most of these.
Q:What size is a 600x600 photo in cm and inches?
2 × 2 inches, or 5.08 × 5.08 cm, at 300 DPI. That is the arithmetic behind the US 2 × 2 inch passport photo: 2 inches times 300 dots per inch is 600 pixels. At another resolution the same pixels print at another size, which is why an online form states the pixels and not the inches. The form checks 600 × 600; the print counter checks 2 × 2.
Q:How do I make a picture exactly 600x600 pixels?
Drop it into the 600 × 600 resizer. The editor opens on Crop with a 600 × 600 pixel preset pressed: a square frame, locked to 1:1, that you drag over the face and scale from a corner. Save resamples the region inside it to exactly 600 × 600 and exports a JPEG. The Crop panel prints the output pixels before you save, and the row under the tool prints the file's size after.
Q:Is a 600x600 digital passport photo the same as a 2x2 print?
The same pixels: 2 inches at 300 DPI is 600. The difference is the form. A printed passport photo is checked in inches, with the head band in inches, and has its own page here. The DS-160's digital photo is checked in pixels, with its own head and eye positions and file rules on the State Department's page. One 600 × 600 export serves both, framed the same way.
Q:What is the maximum file size for a DS-160 photo?
The State Department's photo FAQ states the ceiling and the format, and that page is the only authority for the number, so it is not reprinted here. Read it, then type the figure into Max file size in Advanced settings before you save. The file lands at or under it, never over, and the readout under the result prints the exact size so you can check it against the page.
Q:Why does this page open with a 54 KB minimum file size?
Because the online passport renewal refuses a photo under 54 KB: its upload page takes 54 KB to 10 MB. A 600 × 600 JPEG can land under it; our 9.8 MB camera photo cropped here came to 35 KB at Auto. With Min file size at 54 KB the engine raises quality to reach the floor: 59.2 KB for the same crop, never padding. Clear the field if your form has no floor.
Q:Can a 600x600 photo be larger than 600 pixels, up to 1200x1200?
The State Department's digital photo page states the range the form accepts; read the maximum there. 1200 × 1200 is the same 2 × 2 inches at 600 DPI, so it is the same frame with four times the pixels. Type it into Custom size as px and the square frame stays locked to 1:1. Pick by what you have: a phone photo has the pixels to spare, a small scan does not.
Q:Does the DS-160 photo have to be square?
The State Department's digital photo page states the shape rule for the form. The editor exports a 1:1 square at 600 × 600 whatever you drop, because the preset locks the frame to that ratio and Save resamples only what is inside it. So the shape is settled before you check the page's other rules: the head and eye positions, the file format and the ceiling.
Q:Will the DS-160 accept a PNG or HEIC file?
The State Department's page lists the formats the form takes; read it there. Whatever you drop here, a JPEG comes back, because the tool preselects JPEG for document photos, and a PNG or WebP converts on save. An iPhone HEIC is the one exception: the browser cannot decode it for editing, so run it through the HEIC to JPG converter first, then drop the result into the resizer.
Q:How do I get a 600x600 photo under the file size limit without it looking bad?
Type the ceiling into Max file size before you save. Our reference photo weighs 59 KB at 600 × 600 at the engine's defaults, so a ceiling in the hundreds of kilobytes is met before the cap even bites. When it does bite, the engine searches quality for the most detail that fits under the number and never returns a file over it; the compare view shows the result at full zoom.
Q:Which forms ask for a 600x600 photo?
The DS-160 visa application names a pixel square. Nonimmigrant visa applicants may upload a digital photo with the online application, on the US Embassy in Guyana's page; if the upload is rejected, they bring one printed photo to the interview. Other portals copy the number. The preset is the same 600 × 600 for all of them; the KB rule comes from the form in front of you.
Q:What DPI is a 600x600 photo?
300 DPI when it prints at 2 × 2 inches, 600 DPI when it prints at 1 × 1, and no DPI at all on a form, which counts pixels. DPI is a label the file carries and the printer applies; it changes no pixel. The size the State Department states in pixels is what the upload checks. The page converts 2 inches at 300 DPI into the 600 pixels the form names.
Q:Can I do several photos at once?
One at a time in the editor, because a square that guesses its own position cuts off heads. Each photo opens with the 600 × 600 preset pressed, so a family's photos are drop, drag, Save, next, and every save lands in the same download list with a ZIP when there is more than one. The free allowance is 300 images a day, with no account.
Q:Do you keep my visa 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 upload to the form carries no record of where it was taken. There is no account, no watermark and no charge for the square.
