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French Passport & CNI Photo: requirements and cropper

A french passport & cni photo is 35 × 45 mm. The head must measure 32–36 mm from the crown of the head to the bottom of the chin — a 4 mm window, tight enough that eyeballing the crop will usually miss it. The background must be plain light-coloured — light blue or light grey. white is explicitly not allowed.. The photo must have been taken within the last 6 months.

Crop a photo to the France spec

Drop a photo here, or click to choose Straight-on, evenly lit, plain background · cropped in this browser, never uploaded

The official requirements

Printed photo size 35 × 45 mm
Head height 32–36 mm, crown to chin · 70–80% of image height
Background Plain light-coloured — light blue or light grey. White is explicitly not allowed.
How recent Taken within the last 6 months
Glasses Not required to be removed. If worn, the frames must not be thick or obscure the eyes, and the lenses must not be tinted, coloured or reflective.
Head coverings The head must be bare — no hats, scarves or headbands.
Expression & pose Neutral expression, mouth closed, looking directly at the camera. Hair must not cover the face and the ears must be visible.
Children & infants Not separately detailed in the official guidance reviewed.
Not published digital dimensions, file size, file format, minimum resolution, copies required — the official source does not state these, so nothing is shown rather than a number we made up.

Source: Service-Public.fr — Photo d'identité (French government administrative portal) — read 2026-07-26.

Worth knowing

France is the standout exception to the white-background assumption: a plain white background is explicitly rejected, unlike most other Schengen states. The photo must also be taken by an authorised professional photographer or an approved photo booth — a self-taken photo is not accepted, however well it matches the dimensions.

How to make one

  1. Take or choose a photo shot straight on, from about arm's length or further, in even light with no shadow falling on the face or the wall behind it. Phone selfies taken close up distort the face and are a common rejection reason.
  2. Stand far enough from the wall that you cast no shadow on it. The background needs to be plain light-coloured — light blue or light grey. white is explicitly not allowed. — the tool fills only the area outside your photo's edges, it does not replace the wall behind you.
  3. Drop the photo into the tool above. Nothing is uploaded; the file is read directly by your browser.
  4. Drag the blue marker to the very top of the head, including hair, and the red marker to the bottom of the chin. This is the measurement every official spec is written against.
  5. Check the head-height readout. It should sit between 32 mm and 36 mm; the panel turns green when it does.
  6. Download the photo, or generate a print sheet if you need physical copies.

Why France photos get rejected

Drawn from the official guidance rather than guesswork. Most rejections are not about dimensions at all:

  • White background — must be light blue or light grey
  • Self-taken photo not from an authorised photographer or approved booth
  • Photo more than six months old
  • Hat, scarf or headband without an exemption
  • Face partly covered by a fringe
  • Non-neutral expression or open mouth

France photo questions

Is my photo uploaded anywhere?

No. The cropping, resizing and compressing all happen inside this page, using your browser's own image APIs. There is no server to upload to — the site is static files. Open your browser's network tab, use the tool, and you can watch nothing leave.

It also keeps working with your Wi-Fi switched off once the page has loaded.

What size is a french passport & cni photo?

35 × 45 mm, according to Service-Public.fr — Photo d'identité (French government administrative portal). Within that, the head must measure 32 mm to 36 mm from crown to chin.

Can this tool change my background?

No, and that is deliberate. Background replacement means guessing where your hair ends, and the guess is visible — a halo or a chewed-up fringe is exactly the kind of artefact that gets a photo rejected as digitally altered. France requires plain light-coloured — light blue or light grey. white is explicitly not allowed., so photograph yourself against a matching wall.

The fill colour setting only paints the area outside your photo's edges when the required crop is larger than the image you supplied.

How recent does the photo have to be?

Taken within the last 6 months. Reusing the photo from your previous passport is a standard rejection reason.

Can I wear glasses?

Not required to be removed. If worn, the frames must not be thick or obscure the eyes, and the lenses must not be tinted, coloured or reflective.

Are head coverings allowed?

The head must be bare — no hats, scarves or headbands.

Do the rules differ for babies and children?

Not separately detailed in the official guidance reviewed.

Will a photo from this tool definitely be accepted?

Nobody can promise that, and any site that does is selling you certainty it does not have. A photo is judged on framing, background, lighting, expression, sharpness and how recent it is. This tool handles the geometry and the file size precisely; the rest is down to how the photo was taken. The requirements here were read from Service-Public.fr — Photo d'identité (French government administrative portal) on 2026-07-26 — check the source before you submit, because rules change.

Other specs

This is not official advice. img-fix is not affiliated with any government or immigration authority. The figures on this page were read from Service-Public.fr — Photo d'identité (French government administrative portal) on 2026-07-26, and requirements change without notice. Check the official source before you submit.