Online applications check your photo automatically, and they reject it for reasons a person would never notice: a few pixels too small, a few KB too big, the wrong file type. Below are the exact numbers each portal checks, taken from the official source and linked to a page with the full rules, the common mistakes and a one-tap preset that produces a file that passes.
Digital photo specs at a glance
| Document | Pixels | File size | Format | Background |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US visa (DS-160) | Square, 600×600 to 1200×1200 | Max 240 KB (some US systems also need at least 54 KB) | JPEG, sRGB | White or off-white |
| US Diversity Visa lottery | Square, 600×600 to 1200×1200 | Max 240 KB | JPEG | White or off-white |
| India passport (Passport Seva) | 630×810 (35×45 mm) | 10–250 KB | JPEG | Plain white |
| India e-Visa | Square, 350×350 to 1000×1000 | 10–300 KB | JPEG | Plain, light or white |
| Pakistan passport (DGIP online) | 350×467 | Max 20 KB | JPG | Plain white |
| Azerbaijan e-Visa (ASAN) | Passport bio-page scan, no pixel rule | Max 10 MB | JPG or PNG | n/a |
| UK passport (online) | At least 600×750 | 50 KB–10 MB | Not stated | Plain, light-coloured |
| UK visa (UKVI) | At least 600×750 | 50 KB–6 MB | JPG/JPEG | Plain, light-coloured |
| Canada PR portal (IRCC online) | 715×1000 to 2000×2800 | Max 4 MB | JPEG | Plain white |
| Canada passport, online renewal | 1200×1800 to 3000×4500 | 200 KB–5 MB | JPEG | White or light; from a photographer |
| Schengen: Belgium (VFS, UAE) | At least 240×320, 3:4 | Max 120 KB | JPEG | Plain, light-coloured |
| Australian passport | Printed only: 35–40 × 45–50 mm | n/a | Professional print | White or light grey |
Applying for a government job or exam in Pakistan or India? Those forms have their own photo and signature rules: see photo and signature sizes for job and exam forms.
Make a photo that passes, in three steps
- Start from a good original. A recent, well-lit photo on a plain light wall, face straight to the camera, taken from about arm's length or further so the face isn't distorted.
- Open the passport-size photo maker and tap your document's preset, if it has one. It applies that document's file rules in one step: for most, the exact pixel size, the format and the KB limit; the UK presets keep your framing, as GOV.UK asks. Some documents have no preset because their rules don't allow editing the photo (Canada) or need a professional print (Australia).
- Check the framing before you upload. Automated checks measure head size and position too. Where an official page states a head-size rule, the spec page above gives it.
How to read a photo spec
Pixels are the image's width and height. A "minimum 600×600" rule fails a 599-pixel photo, however sharp it is. KB is the file's size on disk, which depends on the pixels and on the compression; there's no fixed pixels-to-KB conversion. Millimetres or inches describe a printed photo; for a digital upload they only matter through the DPI the portal assumes (see cm to pixels and DPI). Format is usually JPEG; renaming a HEIC or PNG file to .jpg doesn't convert it, and validators catch that.
One unit trap catches many people: portals count 1 KB as either 1,000 or 1,024 bytes. PixKB aims for the stricter count, so a "240 KB" file from PixKB is at most 240,000 bytes and passes either kind of check.
Why photos that look right still get rejected
The usual causes are a non-square crop where a square is required, a file that's a few KB over, a head that's too small in the frame, a shadowed or tinted background, or a format the portal doesn't accept. Our guide to why online forms reject photos goes through each one, and "photo size too large" covers the most common error message.
How we check these specs
Each spec is read from the official portal, rule or notice, and each page shows when it was last checked. Where the figures repeated across the web are wrong, the page says so: Pakistan's DGIP portal enforces 20 KB although its help page mentions "up to 5 MB"; India's passport photo changed from 51×51 mm to 35×45 mm on 1 September 2025; and Azerbaijan's e-Visa wants a scan of your passport page, not a portrait. If a portal changes its rules, tell us and we'll recheck it.
Frequently asked questions
Is the DV lottery photo the same as a US visa photo?
Yes, both use the US Department of State's digital image requirements: a square JPEG from 600×600 to 1200×1200 pixels, at most 240 KB, on a white or off-white background.
Does "240 KB" mean 240,000 or 245,760 bytes?
It depends on the portal, which is why PixKB aims for the stricter one: at most 240,000 bytes. A file that size passes either way.
Can I use one photo for several applications?
Use the same original, but make a separate file for each document. Their pixel sizes, file-size limits and framing rules differ, so a file made for one can fail another.
My document isn't listed. What should I do?
Open the passport-size photo maker, use the Dimensions tab with the size from your form's instructions, then compress to its KB limit. If you send us the official spec, we'll check it and add a preset.
Are my photos uploaded to PixKB?
No. The photo is processed in your browser on your device and saved straight back to it.