OpenPhotoId · Documents
US passport photo, made and checked in your browser
A US passport photo is a square: 2 × 2 inches, with the head 1 to 1 3/8 inches tall, on a white or off-white background. OpenPhotoId is a free passport photo maker that makes the photo on your own device, crops it to the State Department's rules and checks the result before you download it. No sign-up, no watermark, and nothing is uploaded.
US passport photo size and rules
These are the numbers the app uses. They come from the State Department's passport photo pages at travel.state.gov, last checked on 15 October 2026.
| Rule | United States, passport |
|---|---|
| Print size | 2 × 2 in · 50.8 × 50.8 mm |
| File | online renewal: JPG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF · 54 KB – 10 MB · no pixel size published |
| Background | white or off-white, in the photo itself |
| Head height | 1 – 1 3/8 in (25 – 35 mm) · 50 – 68.8% of the photo |
| Eye line | 1 1/8 – 1 3/8 in (28 – 35 mm) from the bottom · 56.3 – 68.8% (the State Department's visa photo template; the passport pages give none) |
| Centring | within 5% of the centre |
| Head tilt | ≤ 5° |
| Glasses | not allowed |
| Editing | not allowed: “Do not change your photo using computer software, phone apps or filters”; online renewal: “Do not use any kind of filter or retouching tools to change your appearance”; you can reposition or crop it |
The app saves the 2x2 photo as a 600 × 600 file: 600 pixels across 2 inches is 300 dpi. The State Department publishes no pixel size for a passport photo; online renewal asks for a file of 54 KB to 10 MB. Every entry, with its official page, is on the supported documents list, and the other sizes are compared on passport photo size.
How the US passport photo is made
- Pick the US passport as your document, then choose a photo or take one with the front camera.
- The app finds your face from five landmarks and measures its tilt.
- Your own background is kept and checked, not replaced: the State Department says “Do not change your photo using computer software, phone apps or filters.”
- The crop lands in the middle of the head-height, eye-line and centring bands at once. Three sliders let you move within them.
- Twelve checks run on the finished file, and the face is detected again on the output.
What the checks report for a US passport photo
This is what a US passport photo made from a typical portrait reports. Each check shows its value next to the band it was judged against.
| Check | Example |
|---|---|
| Face count | 1 face |
| Head height | 57.0% · band 50–68.8% |
| Eye line | 62.4% · band 56.3–68.8% |
| Centring | 0.4% · tolerance 5% |
| Roll | 2.7° · max 5° |
| Glasses | no glasses seen |
| Inter-eye distance | 98 px · min 90 |
| Blur | variance 1147 · min 80 |
| Lighting symmetry | 8.8% · warn from 17% |
| Background uniformity | ΔE 0.0 vs #FFFFFF |
| Resolution | 600 × 600 (300 dpi; online renewal sets no pixel size) |
| File size | 200 KB · 54 KB – 10 MB |
The file size is found by search, not guessed: the app looks for a JPEG quality that lands inside the 54 KB to 10 MB limit. What each check measures is explained in what a passport photo check can measure.
Upload it, or print a 2x2 passport photo
For uploading, save the 600 × 600 JPEG. For paper, the web app and the Android app tile the US passport photo on a 4×6, 5×7, A4 or Letter sheet with cutting guides, ready for a print shop. A lossless PNG with the right DPI is there too.
A 4×6 in sheet holds six 2 × 2 in photos, two across and three down, edge to edge with nothing left over. A 5×7 in sheet also holds six; A4 and Letter hold 20 each.
Print the sheet at actual size. At a photo shop, order a 4×6 in sheet as a 4×6 in print, with no cropping. At home, set the paper size to match and choose “Actual size” or 100% scale, not “Fit to page” or “Scale to fit”. Measure one photo before you cut: it should be exactly 2 inches across. More on printing the sheet at actual size.
The DV Lottery has rules of its own: a 600 × 600 px JPEG of 240 KB or less, with a white background. The app lists it as its own document. It is digital only, so there is no print sheet for it.
Before you submit a US passport photo
- Glasses are not allowed. Take them off before the picture.
- Face the camera straight on with a neutral expression, in even light. A window works, direct sun does not.
- Keep head and shoulders in frame, with a little room above your hair, in front of a plain white or off-white wall: the background is not replaced for a US passport.
- A portal or an officer can still reject a photo for reasons no software can measure, such as an expression or a reflection on glasses. Read the checklist rather than assuming a pass.
Taking the US passport photo yourself? See how to take a passport photo at home.
Free, private, and on every device
Every feature is free, with no account and no watermark. The face detector and the matting model run on your device, so the photo never leaves it, and after the first visit the app works offline. It runs in any modern browser, on desktop or phone, and there are apps for macOS, Windows and Android; the iPhone and iPad download is coming back soon.