A 3.5 × 4.5 cm passport photo is 413 × 531 pixels at 300 DPI. To make one, crop your photo to a 7:9 shape (slightly taller than wide), resize it to 413 × 531 px, and save it as a JPEG. You can do all three steps free in your browser with ToolBrainy. Your photo is never uploaded.
3.5 × 4.5 cm (35 × 45 mm) is the passport and visa photo size used by the UK, India, the Schengen countries and many others. The US uses a square 2 × 2 inch photo instead. Both are covered below.
Passport photo sizes in pixels
To turn centimetres into pixels, you need a resolution. Photo printing uses 300 DPI (dots per inch), so 1 cm ≈ 118 px.
| Size | Where it’s used | Pixels at 300 DPI | Shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 × 4.5 cm (35 × 45 mm) | UK, India, Schengen/EU and many others | 413 × 531 px | 7:9 |
| 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm) | United States | 600 × 600 px | 1:1 |
| 5 × 7 cm (50 × 70 mm) | Canada | 591 × 827 px | 5:7 |
| 3.3 × 4.8 cm (33 × 48 mm) | China | 390 × 567 px | 11:16 |
Rules change, and online forms sometimes ask for a different pixel size than the printed photo. Always check the official site for the passport or visa you’re applying for, and follow the form when it disagrees with this table.
Before you start: take a usable photo
- Plain, light background. Stand about half a metre in front of a white or off-white wall.
- Even light, no shadows. Face a window in daylight. Avoid overhead lights that throw shadows under your eyes.
- Camera at eye level, about 1.5 m away. Too close and your face looks distorted. Ask someone else to take it rather than holding the phone out.
- Neutral expression, eyes open, looking straight at the camera. No glasses for most countries, and nothing covering your face.
- Leave space around you. Include your head and the top of your shoulders, with room above your hair. You’ll crop it down.
Step by step: make a 3.5 × 4.5 cm passport photo
Step 1: Crop to a 7:9 shape
Open the Crop Image tool and choose your photo. Drag the corners of the crop box around your head and shoulders. Under the image, the tool shows the crop size in pixels. Aim for a width-to-height ratio of 7:9, for example:
- 700 × 900 px
- 840 × 1080 px
- 1050 × 1350 px
It doesn’t need to be exact to the pixel. A few pixels off won’t be visible after resizing. Most countries want your face (chin to the top of your head) to fill about 70–80% of the photo’s height, so leave a small gap above your hair and keep your face centred.
Step 2: Resize to 413 × 531 pixels
Open the Image Resizer, add the cropped photo, keep Lock aspect ratio ticked and type 413 in Width. If your crop was close to 7:9, the height comes out at about 531. If it’s a few pixels off, untick the lock and type both numbers. The tiny stretch won’t be visible. Set the output format to JPEG and download.
Step 3: Check the file size (for online forms)
A 413 × 531 JPEG is usually well under 100 KB. If the form has a stricter limit, such as 20 KB or 50 KB, run it through the Image Compressor and lower the quality until it fits. Our guide on resizing an image to 20 KB has the exact settings.
US passport photo: 2 × 2 inches
Same steps, different shape:
- Crop to a square (equal width and height in the crop readout).
- Resize to 600 × 600 px for a 2 × 2 in print at 300 DPI.
- For the US online visa form (DS-160), the photo must be a square JPEG between 600 × 600 and 1200 × 1200 px and no larger than 240 KB. 600 × 600 at normal JPEG quality fits easily.
The US also asks for your head (chin to top of hair) to measure 1 to 1⅜ inches, about 50–69% of the photo’s height.
Printing a passport photo at home or at a shop
Pixels only become centimetres when printed at the right resolution. When you print, choose actual size or 100%, never “fit to page”, and make sure the printer or shop prints at 300 DPI. Many photo shops will print several copies on one standard photo print, which is usually cheaper than printing just one.
Common reasons passport photos get rejected
- Shadows on the face or background.
- Head too small or too big in the frame. Crop closer or leave more space.
- Stretched or squashed face from resizing with the wrong ratio. Crop to the right shape first.
- Heavy filters or beauty retouching. Most passport offices reject edited faces.
- Wrong file format. Use JPEG (.jpg) unless the form asks otherwise. Not sure why? See JPG vs PNG vs WebP.
Frequently asked questions
How many pixels is a 3.5 x 4.5 cm photo?
413 × 531 pixels at 300 DPI. At 600 DPI it would be 827 × 1063, but online forms almost always want the 300 DPI size or smaller.
Is 3.5 x 4.5 cm the same as 35 x 45 mm?
Yes. Some forms write it as 4.5 × 3.5 cm (height first). It’s the same photo, taller than it is wide.
Can I make a passport photo on my phone?
Yes. The ToolBrainy crop, resize and compress tools all work in mobile browsers on Android and iPhone, with nothing to install.
Is it safe to edit my passport photo online?
The ToolBrainy image tools process the photo in your browser, so it isn’t uploaded to a server.
Can I change the background colour to white?
The easiest route is to take the photo against a white wall. Editing the background later often leaves visible edges around your hair, which can get the photo rejected.
The short version
Take the photo against a plain wall in daylight → crop to 7:9 in the Crop Image tool → resize to 413 × 531 px in the Image Resizer → save as JPEG and check the size. For the US, crop square and resize to 600 × 600 px.
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