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Passport, visa and ID photos · Fix a photo

Passport or visa photo file too large or too small: how to fix it

Online applications refuse a photo file outside their size limits, in kilobytes or megabytes, often without saying why. Here is how to meet them, then what each authority's own page says.

Your photo stays on your device: nothing is uploaded, and no face is recognised.

Check your photo now, free

How to fix it

  1. Start from the original photo. One sent through a chat app has already been shrunk and recompressed.
  2. Don't scan a print or photograph a photo to get a file.
  3. Set the pixel size your document asks for first: the file size mostly follows from it.
  4. Save as JPEG unless your document's rules name another type.

On the pages that make the file, the saved file is fitted to your document's pixel size and file-size limits. On the pages that only check, your file's size, type and pixels are checked as they are.

Check your photo against your document's rules

Choose your document: its page checks your photo in your browser, free. The indented words are the issuing authority's own, from the official page linked beside them, read on the date given. WinPhoto is not affiliated with any government. Only the authority decides whether it accepts a photo.

Armenia

Australia

Canada

China

Colombia

India

Ireland

Kuwait

Laos

Morocco

Myanmar

New Zealand

Oman

Pakistan

Poland

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Thailand

United States

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

Questions

How large can a passport or visa photo file be?
It depends on the document: the 53 documents WinPhoto ID checks that set a largest file size put it between 20 KB and 10 MB. Each document's page states its own limit.
Which authorities' rules are quoted here?
40 documents from 22 countries. Each quote is from the issuing authority's own page, linked beside it, with the date we read it. Rules change: the official page is the one that counts.
Does the check mean my photo will be accepted?
No. The check compares your photo with the published rules as we read them on the date each page gives. Only the authority decides whether it accepts a photo.
Is my photo uploaded?
No. The check runs in your browser and the photo stays on your device. The one exception is the Detail check, which is opt-in and comes with a document's photo.