Short answer
An Indian passport photo is 35 x 45 mm (3.5 x 4.5 cm, about 1.38 x 1.77 inches), with the face filling 80 to 85 percent of the photo (a head of 36 to 38.3 mm) on a white background. The digital photo for the online application is 630 x 810 pixels and at most 250 KB, and since 1 December 2025 it has to meet these ICAO rules. Glasses should come off, to avoid reflections. The Indian visa and e-Visa photo is a different thing: a 2 x 2 inch square, not the passport rectangle (Passport Seva guidelines and Indian mission notices, checked October 2026; Indian Visa Online, checked September 2026).
An Indian passport photo is a 35 x 45 mm portrait rectangle on a white background, with a face that fills most of the frame. It is not the square photo that the Indian visa and the OCI card ask for, and mixing the two up is the commonest reason people end up with a photo of the wrong shape.
This page gives the passport rules and the visa rules side by side, with the numbers read from the issuing pages on 17 September 2026. getPNG crops and places the photograph at these sizes. It does not judge whether a photograph will be accepted, and nothing here is a promise that yours will be.
The rules, side by side
| Rule | Indian passport | Indian visa and e-Visa |
|---|---|---|
| Printed size | 35 x 45 mm | 2 x 2 inches, a square |
| Head size | 36 to 38.3 mm, the face being 80 to 85 percent of the photo | 25.4 to 35 mm |
| Background | White | Plain light colour or white, no shadows, no border |
| Glasses | Take them off, to avoid reflections | Not allowed on the e-Visa photo |
| Digital photo | 630 x 810 pixels, up to 250 KB | 600 x 600 pixels, up to 300 KB |
| Source | Passport Seva guidelines (PDF), Embassy of India, Bern | indianvisaonline.gov.in |
Two cells are worth a note. The 250 KB limit is not in the guidelines PDF itself; it comes from the notices Indian missions published when these rules became mandatory for uploaded photos on 1 December 2025, with the move to version 2.0 of the passport portal. And the passport rule is stated as a share of the frame, so the passport column gives that and the millimetres it works out to in a 45 mm photo. The passport rules were read again on 21 October 2026.
The size in every unit
The same 35 x 45 mm photo, in the units the different forms and print shops ask for. Every row is the same shape, 7 wide to 9 high, so a correct crop in one unit is correct in all of them.
| Unit | Indian passport photo |
|---|---|
| Millimetres | 35 x 45 mm |
| Centimetres | 3.5 x 4.5 cm |
| Inches | about 1.38 x 1.77 inches |
| Digital photo for the application | 630 x 810 pixels, up to 250 KB |
| Print at 300 dpi | 413 x 531 pixels |
| Print at 600 dpi | 827 x 1063 pixels |
| Ratio | 7 : 9 (0.78) |
The 630 x 810 pixel file is not a print size: printed at 35 x 45 mm it works out to about 457 dpi, which is more than enough. If a print shop asks for a file, send the 300 dpi or 600 dpi size and ask for no border and no fit to page.
The full comparison of twelve documents, with the source for each, is in the passport photo requirements table. The OCI card is a third Indian document with its own rules (a 51 x 51 mm square on a light colour that is not white) and has its own row there and its own page, OCI photo requirements.
The face fills the frame
The number that matters most on the passport side is the face size. The guidelines ask for the face to take up 80 to 85 percent of the photo. In a photograph 45 mm tall, that is a head of roughly 36 to 38.3 mm, measured from the chin to the top of the head.
That is a large head. Compare it with the UK, which asks for 29 to 34 mm in the same 45 mm frame, so the head fills about two thirds to three quarters of the picture. A photo that was cropped correctly for a UK application would look slightly distant to an Indian application, with too much hair above and too much shoulder below. The reverse is also true: an Indian crop used for a UK application has a head that is too big.
This is why a single “35 x 45 mm” crop is not enough to say a photo is right for a given country. The paper is the same size and the head is not, so crop each document from the original photograph rather than from a print you made for a different one.
Check the face before you print
Crop the photo to 35 x 45 mm, then measure from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head on screen or on a test print. For the Indian passport it should come to between 36 and 38.3 mm. If it is nearer 30, the camera was too far away and cropping tighter will only make the picture softer, because the pixels were never there. Retake it from closer rather than enlarging a small face.
You should see:
White means white, and the shadow counts
The passport background is white. That sounds easy, and for once it is the common assumption, so people tend to get the colour right. What fails is the evenness: a white wall photographed with a lamp to one side puts a grey shadow behind the head, and a photograph with a shadow on the background is not a plain white background any more.
Three habits help.
Stand away from the wall. About a metre in front of it, so the shadow of your head and shoulders falls on the floor behind you and not on the wall.
Light your face from the front. Face a window in daylight. Side light, a lamp in a corner or a window behind you all produce an uneven background and a shadowed face at the same time.
Do not paint the background white afterwards. A replaced background is an edit, and ID photo checks are looking for exactly that. If the wall is the wrong colour, change the wall or find another one, rather than trying to fix the picture. Passport photo backgrounds goes into what “plain” means and why an edited background is a risk.
The digital photo is a different shape of problem
The online application takes a digital photograph, and the Indian passport digital size is 630 x 810 pixels. That is the 35 x 45 mm shape counted in pixels: 630 divided by 810 is the same ratio as 35 divided by 45.
Two things follow from that.
First, the pixel count is not a print resolution. You do not need to send a large file, and sending a much larger one does not make the photo better. What matters is that the proportions are right and the head sits where the rule says, and then that the file is under the 250 KB the form accepts.
Second, a photograph that has been enlarged to reach 630 x 810 pixels is a problem the form cannot see and a person can. If your original face is only a few hundred pixels tall, scaling it up produces soft edges that are plain to a human checker. Start from a photograph taken close enough and sharp enough that the crop to 630 x 810 is a reduction, not an enlargement.
Glasses and expression
The guidelines ask for glasses to be taken off, to avoid reflections. That is a rule with a practical reason: glare on a lens hides the eye, and the eye is what a biometric check looks at. At home, with a window in front of you, glare is very hard to avoid, so take them off for the ten seconds the photograph takes.
Beyond that, the usual ICAO habits apply: look straight at the camera, keep a neutral expression with the mouth closed, keep both eyes open and clear of hair, and have nobody else in the frame. The exact wording of each of these is in the guidelines PDF linked in the table, which is the source that settles any question about your own photograph.
When the photo is for a visa instead
If the photograph is for an Indian visa or e-Visa, start again from the original. The visa photo is a 2 x 2 inch square, 600 x 600 pixels and up to 300 KB for the online form, on a plain light-coloured or white background with no shadows and no border. The head is 25.4 to 35 mm, which is a smaller share of the frame than the passport asks for, and glasses are not allowed on the e-Visa photo.
Cropping the passport photo into a square does not turn it into a visa photo. The head would be too large for the visa range at the top end, and a crop taken from a print loses the margin around the head that the square needs. The US visa photo is also a 2 x 2 inch square with its own limits, and the US visa photo rules have the 600 x 600 pixel and 240 KB figures for the DS-160, which are not the Indian ones despite looking similar.
Taking one at home
You are allowed to, and the photograph itself is the same job as for any other country:
- Find a plain white or very pale wall with nothing on it, and stand about a metre in front of it so no shadow falls on it.
- Face a window in daylight, on an overcast day if you can.
- Turn off portrait mode, beauty filters and skin smoothing, and use the rear camera.
- Have somebody shoot from about two metres at eye height, with head and shoulders in the frame and space above the head.
- Crop to 35 x 45 mm with the face filling 80 to 85 percent of the frame.
- For the digital application, export at 630 x 810 pixels. For a print, print at 100 percent with no border and no fit to page, then measure the cut photo with a ruler.
How to take a passport photo at home has the detail on each of those steps, including why a photo taken at arm’s length fails in a way that has nothing to do with the framing.
The free way
Crop your photo to 35 x 45 mm with the face in the range
Choose Indian passport and the tool places your photo at 35 x 45 mm, shows the head height against the 36 to 38.3 mm range as you move the crop, and can export the 630 x 810 pixel digital version. It runs in your browser, so the photograph is never uploaded, and it never retouches it.
What the tool does, and what it does not
getPNG crops and places the photograph at the official size and shows you where the head sits against the range the guidelines give. That is a real part of the job, and it is the part a person is worst at doing by eye.
It does not judge the photograph. Whether your expression reads as neutral, whether the light across your face is even, whether the wall counts as plain white: those are decided by the issuing authority, and the guidelines linked in the table above are the only source that settles it. No website can promise your photo will be accepted, and one that does is telling you something it has no way of knowing.
If a photo comes back queried, it is most often a shadow on the background or a face that is too small in the frame. Both are fixed at the camera, not on the computer: stand further from the wall, move the camera closer to you, and take it again.
Questions
What size is an Indian passport photo?
35 x 45 mm, a portrait rectangle, which is the same paper size as a UK or most European passport photo. The digital photo for the online application is 630 x 810 pixels, which is the same shape at a higher resolution. It is not the square 2 x 2 inch photo that the Indian visa and the OCI card use.
What is the Indian passport photo size in inches and pixels?
35 x 45 mm is about 1.38 x 1.77 inches, or 3.5 x 4.5 cm. The digital photo is 630 x 810 pixels. Printed at 300 dpi, the 35 x 45 mm photo is 413 x 531 pixels; at 600 dpi it is 827 x 1063. All of these are the same 7 to 9 shape.
What is the maximum file size for an Indian passport photo?
250 KB, according to the notices Indian missions published when ICAO compliant photos became mandatory on 1 December 2025. A 630 x 810 pixel JPEG of a face on a white wall is usually well under that at normal quality.
Should an Indian passport photo be glossy or matte?
The Passport Seva guidelines do not specify a finish: they are written for the digital photo you upload, which has no finish at all. If a print is asked for, a standard photo print with no border is what studios supply, and matte is the safer of the two because it does not glare when the photo is scanned or photographed.
What background does an Indian passport photo need?
White. The guidelines for ICAO compliant photographs ask for a plain white background, so a coloured wall, a patterned sheet or a visible shadow behind your head is a reason for the photo to be queried. The OCI card is the exception to remember: it asks for a plain light colour that is specifically not white.
How big should the face be in an Indian passport photo?
The guidelines say the face takes up 80 to 85 percent of the photo. Inside a 45 mm tall photo that works out as a head of about 36 to 38.3 mm, which is bigger than the UK band of 29 to 34 mm. A photo cropped for the UK will usually have a head that is too small for India.
Can I wear glasses in an Indian passport photo?
The guidelines say to take them off, to avoid reflections. Glare on the lenses is the practical problem, and it is hard to avoid at home with a window or a lamp in front of you.
Is an Indian visa photo the same as a passport photo?
No. The Indian visa and e-Visa photo is square, 2 x 2 inches, 600 x 600 pixels and up to 300 KB for the online form, on a plain light or white background with no shadows and no border. The passport photo is 35 x 45 mm. They are different documents with different rules, so crop each one from the original photograph.
Does getPNG make an Indian passport photo that will be accepted?
It crops and places your photo at the official size and shows where the head sits against the range. It does not judge the photograph. Whether the light is even, the expression neutral and the background white enough is decided by the issuing authority, and no website can promise the outcome.