Short answer
An Irish passport photo is 35 x 45 mm printed, and the digital photo is 715 x 951 pixels. The background must be completely plain light grey, white or cream with enough contrast against you. Glasses are allowed if the frame covers no part of the eyes and there is no glare, but not dark glasses. The Department of Foreign Affairs page gives no head height, so none is stated here as Ireland's rule (ireland.ie, checked September 2026).
An Irish passport photo is 35 x 45 mm on a completely plain light grey, white or cream background, and the digital photo is 715 x 951 pixels. That makes Ireland one of the easier documents on the background: white is allowed here, in a list where the UK, France and the OCI card all turn it away. What is unusual about it is the other end of the page. The source this site read gives a pixel size for the online photo and no head height at all.
This page puts the rules in one table. The figures were read from the Department of Foreign Affairs photo guidelines on ireland.ie on 17 September 2026, and they are the same ones getPNG’s passport photo maker uses. getPNG crops and places the photograph at these sizes. It does not judge the biometrics, and nothing here is a promise that your photo will be accepted. Two things people tend to ask about, a head height and a file limit, are not in that source, and the page says so rather than filling them in.
The table
| Decision | The rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Printed size | 35 x 45 mm | Photo guidelines, ireland.ie |
| Digital photo | 715 x 951 pixels | same page |
| Background | Completely plain light grey, white or cream, with enough contrast | same page |
| Glasses | Allowed if the frame covers no part of the eyes and there is no glare; no dark glasses | same page |
| Head height | Not published on the page read | not stated |
| File size | Not published on the page read | not stated |
Four rows are the authority’s own words, shortened, and they were checked on 17 September 2026. The last two are blank on purpose. A number that cannot be traced to the page would be a number from memory, and the application you are filling in is the source that settles your case. If it shows a head height or a file limit, use that.
What the numbers add up to
The print and the digital photo are not the same shape, and that is easy to miss because both are called a passport photo.
The print is 35 / 45 = 0.78 wide for its height. That is the proportion of the 35 x 45 mm rectangle that the UK, Australia and France also use.
The digital photo is 715 / 951 = 0.75. That is a 3 : 4 frame, a little narrower for its height than the printed rectangle. If you crop for a print and then save that crop at 715 x 951, the picture is stretched or a strip is lost, depending on how the tool resolves it. Crop to the shape the destination wants.
Neither is a single resolution. 715 pixels across 35 mm is about 519 pixels per inch, and 951 pixels down 45 mm is about 537. They differ because the two shapes differ, so there is no one dpi to quote for the file. The pixel size is the rule for the upload, and the millimetres are the rule for the print.
A head band, if you use the common one. The source gives no head height, so nothing here is Ireland’s rule. If you use the 32 to 36 mm range that most passports share as a guide, the head is 32 / 45 = 71 percent to 36 / 45 = 80 percent of the height, and in the 951 pixel file that is a head of about 676 to 761 pixels from chin to crown. Treat it as a guide for framing and nothing more.
Light grey, white or cream
The background is the rule most people worry about, and here it is generous. The Department of Foreign Affairs asks for a completely plain background in one of three light colours, with enough contrast against you. Both halves matter.
Plain means no pattern, no texture, no door frame or picture behind you, and no shadow. A wall that is bright on the window side and dim on the other is not plain, and neither is the dark line a shadow draws where your head meets it.
Enough contrast is the part that is easy to miss when white is allowed. Pale hair, or a light top with a white wall behind, can leave your outline hard to see. If your hair or skin is close to the wall in tone, a light grey or cream wall separates you better than white does.
Compare the documents people most often do in one go:
| Document | Background |
|---|---|
| Irish passport | Light grey, white or cream |
| UK passport | Cream or light grey |
| French passport | Plain and light; white not allowed |
UK passport photo requirements covers the second, and the white background photo guide sorts out which documents ask for white and which do not. A photograph that is right for Ireland on white is wrong for the other two, so if you need more than one, take them against a wall each document allows.
Do not paint the background afterwards. A replaced background is an edit, and an ID photo is checked for exactly that. A cutout tool is right for a sticker or a product picture and wrong here; passport photo backgrounds explains why.
Check the wall before you crop
- Take the photo against the wall in daylight and open it on screen.
- Look at the empty areas on both sides of your head, then at the area behind your shoulders and above your hair.
You should see: an even pale colour on both sides with no visible shading, and a clear edge between you and the wall everywhere, including around your hair.
If you do not: if one side is darker, face the window more squarely or move a metre away from the wall so your shadow falls on the floor. If your hair merges with the wall, try a light grey or cream wall instead of white, because you cannot add contrast afterwards without it being an edit.
Cropping to 35 x 45 mm
The crop is the same job as any other 35 x 45 mm document, with one difference: there is no head height to hit. Start with a photograph that has clear space above the head and around the shoulders, taken from about two metres away at eye height, so you can crop in rather than out. A tight original cannot be made wider.
Work backwards from the head to see how much picture you need. If the head measures 1,200 pixels from chin to crown on your original and you aim at the common 71 to 80 percent band, the crop is 1,200 / 0.80 = 1,500 to 1,200 / 0.71 = about 1,690 pixels tall. That is then scaled down to 951 pixels for the upload, which is a reduction, so the photo stays sharp. If the head is only 500 pixels tall, the crop would be near 700 pixels and the upload would have to be enlarged, which only makes the picture soft. The fix is a new photograph taken from nearer, not a tighter crop.
You do not need to do the sum. The passport photo maker draws a guide band and you move the photo until the crown and chin sit inside it. The sum tells you how much picture you must have taken.
Glasses
Glasses are allowed on the Irish photo, with two conditions: the frame must cover no part of the eyes, and there must be no glare. Dark glasses are out. That is more relaxed than the US visa, where glasses are not allowed at all, and a little looser than Australia, where they are accepted only for a medical reason.
All three conditions are things you can see on the picture: a colour in the lens, a bright patch of glare, or a frame edge crossing the eye. Glare depends on a window or lamp you cannot easily move, so the practical advice is still to take them off for the ten seconds the photo takes. If you wear them every day and the photograph without would not look like you, take several shots at different angles to the window and keep the one with the clearest lenses.
The online photo
The digital photo is 715 x 951 pixels. That is a specific number and the form may insist on it, so check three things before you upload:
- Start from the original. A photo that has been through a messaging app has already lost detail, and the upload is a small enough picture that every bit of it matters.
- Check the pixels. The file should be exactly 715 x 951. A larger one is not a better one for a form that names a size.
- Check the file size after saving, not before. The source read here gives no limit, but the application may, and a file you resized in one app and saved in another can come out at a different size. If it is over the limit, compressing an image to an exact size explains how to bring it under without changing the pixels.
The photograph itself, its framing, its background and the rule against editing are the same whether you print it or upload it. Take it correctly first and the digital step is a matter of saving at the right size.
Taking one at home
It is the same job as for any other country, with a wall that fits the rule:
- Find a plain wall in light grey, cream or white with nothing on it, and stand about a metre in front of it so your shadow falls behind you.
- Face a window in daylight, on an overcast day if you can, with no flash and no ceiling light.
- Turn off portrait mode, beauty filters and skin smoothing, and use the rear camera.
- Have somebody take it from about two metres away at eye height, with your head and shoulders in the frame and clear space all round.
- Crop to 35 x 45 mm with the head in the guide band.
- For the form, save at 715 x 951 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.
The free way
Crop your photo to 35 x 45 mm with the head in the guide band
Choose Irish passport and the tool places your photo at 35 x 45 mm, shows the head against the common 32 to 36 mm range as you move the crop, and saves the 715 x 951 pixel file. 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 a guide range. It says out loud that the head range for Ireland is the common one, because the source gives none.
It does not judge the photograph. Whether your expression reads as neutral, whether the light across your face is even, and whether the wall is plain enough are decided by the authority that receives the application. The page linked in the table is 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.
The sizes for the other documents getPNG knows, with the official source for each, are in the passport photo requirements table. Before you upload any ID photo to a site, read whether it is safe to upload photos online.
Questions
What size is an Irish passport photo?
35 x 45 mm printed, a portrait rectangle, which is the same size as the UK, Australian and French passport photos. The digital photo is a different shape from the print: 715 x 951 pixels is a little narrower for its height than 35 x 45 mm, so a crop made for one is not simply the other scaled.
Can an Irish passport photo have a white background?
Yes. The Department of Foreign Affairs asks for a completely plain background in light grey, white or cream, with enough contrast against you. That is looser than the UK, which asks for cream or light grey, and looser than France, which does not accept white. Plain means no shadow, no pattern and no texture.
What pixel size is the Irish digital passport photo?
715 x 951 pixels, according to the page read on 17 September 2026. No file size limit for it is published in the source this page was built from, so none is stated here. The online application shows its own limits when it asks for the photo.
How big should the head be in an Irish passport photo?
The page this site read does not give a head height, so this page cannot give you Ireland's number. The tool uses the common ICAO range of 32 to 36 mm as a guide and says so. If your application shows a figure, it outranks that range.
Can I wear glasses in an Irish passport photo?
They are allowed if the frame covers no part of the eyes and there is no glare on the lenses. Dark glasses are not allowed. Glare is the usual cause of trouble and depends on where the window or lamp is, so if you can take them off for the photo, take them off.
Does getPNG make an Irish passport photo that will be accepted?
It crops and places your photograph at 35 x 45 mm, shows the head against a guide band and saves the 715 x 951 pixel file. It does not judge the photograph and it never changes the background. Whether the light, the expression and the wall are acceptable is decided by the authority that receives it.