How to crop a passport photo
- Open a photo taken straight on, against a plain light wall, with the whole head and shoulders in frame.
- Pick the spec: Indian passport, US visa / DV lottery, or the US 2 × 2 in print. The crop box takes the spec’s shape and output size.
- Drag and resize the box until the top of the head sits in the Crown band, the chin in the Chin band and the eyes in the middle band.
- Press Crop Picture. The spec check lists pixels, print size, file size, format and colour with a tick or a cross, and checks the background as a heuristic.
- Download the JPEG and keep the original — if the portal rejects it, recrop from the original rather than the saved file.
Passport and visa photo specs
Each preset comes from the authority’s own published page. Portals change their rules, so check the current notice before you submit — the date each spec was last checked is shown.
| Preset | Rules | Source · checked |
|---|---|---|
| Indian passport (digital photo) | 630 × 810 pixels, colour; Plain white background, no shadows; Face covers about 80–85 % of the photo; Head straight, eyes open, mouth closed | Embassy of India, Bern — Guidelines for ICAO Compliant Photographs for Passport Application · 2026-10-18 |
| US visa / DV lottery (digital photo) | Square, from 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 pixels; JPEG, 240 KB or smaller; 24-bit sRGB colour; Head 50–69 % of the height; eyes 56–69 % up from the bottom; Plain white or off-white background | U.S. Department of State — Digital Image Requirements · 2026-10-18 |
| US passport photo, 2 × 2 in print | 2 × 2 inches; written at 300 DPI this is 600 × 600 pixels; Head 1 to 1⅜ in from chin to crown; Plain white or off-white background | U.S. Department of State — Digital Image Requirements (print size from the same family of rules) · 2026-10-18 |
Why a passport crop needs more than a ratio
A passport or visa portal checks several things at once: the exact pixels, the shape, the file size, the format and the colour space, and a person checks the head position and the background. A plain cropper gets you the shape and leaves the rest to luck. This mode sets all of the machine-checked rules together when you pick a spec, draws the head-position bands that the rules describe, and then reads the saved file back to check it — the result panel reports the file you are about to upload, not the settings you asked for.
The US visa spec allows any square size from 600 to 1200 pixels, so the largest size your photo can give without enlarging is used. The Indian passport spec fixes 630 × 810 pixels; if your crop has fewer pixels than that you are told how much it will be enlarged before anything is saved. Colour is always saved as sRGB for these presets, because the US rule asks for it and every portal accepts it.
Applying for an exam rather than a passport? Crop photo for form has the SSC and PAN presets with KB limits, and crop signature does the signature.
Frequently asked questions
What size is an Indian passport photo for online applications?
630 × 810 px, colour, plain white background, face about 80–85 % of the photo — per the ICAO guidelines published by Indian missions. Check the guidelines of the office you apply through.
What are the US visa photo rules?
A square JPEG from 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 px, 240 KB or smaller, sRGB colour; head 50–69 % of the height, eyes 56–69 % up from the bottom.
Does the tool check my face position?
It draws the crown, eye and chin bands from the spec so you can line the head up. Faces are not detected automatically yet, so head position is guided, not checked.
Can it change my background to white?
No — that is editing, not cropping. Shoot against a plain light wall; the background line of the spec check tells you whether the edges look plain and light (a heuristic, labelled as one).
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything happens in this tab — there is no upload endpoint to send it to. See how we test this.
Can I print passport photos at home?
The US 2 × 2 in preset saves a print-sized file at 300 DPI. A sheet with several copies on 6 × 4 in paper is planned; until then, crop to size handles any print size.