Studios in most Indian towns charge somewhere between a few dozen and a hundred rupees for a set of passport photos, and you usually wait while they crop, adjust and print. The work itself is not complicated: a photo cropped to the right physical size, on a plain background, printed at the right resolution. This page does that part in your browser, for free, and without uploading your photo anywhere. You still need a printer or a print shop for the paper copy — but you walk in with a ready sheet instead of a phone photo.
Below you will find the exact sizes we support (taken from the same data file that drives the tool, so the table and the tool never disagree), a step-by-step walkthrough, how many copies fit on common paper sizes, and the mistakes that most often get a passport or visa photo rejected.
What is the passport size photo size in cm, inches and pixels?
"Passport size" is not one worldwide standard. India, the UK, the Schengen area and Canada use a 35 × 45 mm photo; the United States uses a 2 × 2 inch square (51 × 51 mm). Many Indian exam and government forms also ask for a "passport size photo" and mean the same 3.5 × 4.5 cm shape, even if they then give a separate pixel size for the online upload.
These are the print sizes built into the maker. The pixel numbers are what you get at 300 DPI, the usual resolution for photo printing:
| Preset | Print size | Pixels at 300 DPI | Background | Digital upload |
|---|
| India passport | 35 × 45 mm | 413 × 531 | White | Passport Seva upload: 630 × 810 px, 10–250 KB |
| Exam / form photo | 35 × 45 mm | 413 × 531 | White | — |
| US passport / visa | 50.8 × 50.8 mm | 600 × 600 | White | US visa DS-160: 600 × 600 px, up to 240 KB |
| UK passport | 35 × 45 mm | 413 × 531 | #eeeeee | UK online (min 600×750): 600 × 750 px, 50–2000 KB |
| Schengen visa | 35 × 45 mm | 413 × 531 | White | — |
| Canada visa | 35 × 45 mm | 413 × 531 | White | — |
| Stamp size | 20 × 25 mm | 236 × 295 | White | — |
From data/presets.json. Requirements are set by each issuing authority — verify with the official instructions.
A useful way to think about it: millimetres decide the shape and physical size on paper; DPI decides how many pixels go into each millimetre. 35 mm at 300 DPI is 35 ÷ 25.4 × 300 ≈ 413 px, and 45 mm is ≈ 531 px, which is why you will see "413 × 531 px" quoted everywhere for a 3.5 × 4.5 cm photo. If a form asks for a different pixel size, the shape stays the same and only the pixel count changes.
Passport size photo ratio. 35 × 45 mm is a 7 : 9 ratio (about 0.78 : 1). The 2 × 2 inch US photo is 1 : 1. If you crop to the wrong ratio and then stretch the photo to fit, faces look wide or thin — which is the single most visible sign of a home-made photo. The maker locks the crop to the chosen ratio so this cannot happen.
How many passport size photos fit on an A4 or 4×6 sheet?
It depends on the photo size, the gap you leave for cutting and the margin your printer needs. With the maker's default gap and margins, our automated tests produced these maximums for a 35 × 45 mm photo: 30 on A4, 6 on 4 × 6 inch, 9 on 5 × 7 inch and 25 on US Letter. The tool shows "N of M photos fit on this sheet" as you change the options, so you never have to calculate it yourself.
Which paper should you choose?
- 4 × 6 inch (4R) is the standard photo-lab print. Six copies on one sheet is usually the cheapest way to get proper photo-paper prints at a local shop.
- A4 is what most home and office printers take. Use it when you need many copies (a family's worth, or a stack for several applications), or when a shop prints documents but not photo sizes.
- 5 × 7 inch is a common lab size too; handy for 8–9 copies.
- Letter is for printers set up with US paper.
If you are going to cut with scissors, reduce the copy count so the gaps are bigger. A paper trimmer handles tight layouts better.
How do I print passport photos at home or at a shop?
The one setting that ruins more home-printed passport photos than anything else is scaling. Printers and phone print dialogs like to "fit to page", which quietly shrinks or enlarges the sheet — and your 35 × 45 mm photo comes out as 33 × 42 mm. When you print:
- Choose 100 %, Actual size or No scaling. Turn off "Fit to page" / "Shrink oversized pages".
- Print the PDF when you can; it carries the paper size, so a correct print dialog reproduces exact millimetres.
- Use photo paper (glossy or matte) for the best finish. Plain paper prints may not be accepted where a physical photo is pasted on a form.
- Measure one printed photo with a ruler before you cut the whole sheet. It should be 35 mm wide and 45 mm tall (or 51 × 51 mm for 2 × 2 inch).
At a print shop, send the JPG or PDF and say "print at actual size, don't resize". Most shops will do a 4 × 6 for a few rupees.
What background should a passport photo have?
For the Indian passport the preset uses plain white. The UK preset uses light grey, and the others use white. Whatever the country, the background should be plain, evenly lit and free of shadows, patterns or objects. The maker's background tool replaces the wall behind you with a flat colour; for hair that is very curly or fine, compare the Best and Light models and keep the one that looks natural. Do not paint over the face or clothing — just the background.
Lighting matters as much as the colour. A shadow of your head on the wall behind you reads as a "non-uniform background" even if the wall is white. Stand a step away from the wall and face a window.
Can I make a passport size photo on my mobile?
Yes. The page works in Chrome, Safari and Firefox on phones. On a phone the editor switches to a single column: the photo and crop at the top, options below. You can choose a photo from the gallery or take one with the camera. The generated sheet downloads like any other file; from there you can print over Wi-Fi, send it to a print shop on WhatsApp, or copy it to a computer. Because processing happens on the device, an older phone may take a few seconds longer for background removal — nothing is waiting on a server.
What about the digital photo for online forms?
Online applications want a file, not a print, and they specify it in pixels and kilobytes instead of millimetres. The Passport Seva digital photo in our data is 630 × 810 px, 10–250 KB, JPEG. Exam portals each have their own numbers — for example IBPS uses 200 × 230 px at 20–50 KB. Pick the exam preset in section 1 of the editor, or open the exam's page from all exam photo sizes, and download the single photo. If you also need your signature, the signature resizer handles it, and if the form wants both in one image use join photo and signature.
The digital and printed versions can come from the same original photo. Make the sheet first, then switch the editor to the upload preset without re-uploading.
Why do passport photos get rejected?
- Wrong size or stretched face. Printing with scaling on, or cropping to the wrong ratio and stretching. Locked-ratio cropping and "actual size" printing fix both.
- Head too small or too large. A tiny face in the middle of a large background is common with phone photos. Crop closer; use Center on face as a starting point.
- Shadows and uneven light. Harsh overhead light leaves shadows under the eyes and behind the head. Face a window instead.
- Busy or coloured background. Replace it with plain white.
- Glasses glare, tinted glasses, caps. Remove them unless your document rules allow them.
- Old photo. Most rules ask for a recent photo. Take a new one rather than scanning an old print.
- Heavy filters or retouching. Skin smoothing, beauty modes and AI enhancement can make the photo look unlike you. Keep it natural.
The exact rules for each document are set by the authority that issues it, and they are revised from time to time. Treat the sizes here as a starting point and verify with the official notification or instructions before you print a large batch.