UK Passport Photo: requirements and cropper
A uk passport photo is 35 × 45 mm. The head must measure 29–34 mm from the crown of the head to the bottom of the chin. The background must be plain light grey or plain cream. Digital uploads must land between 50 KB and 10 MB. The photo must have been taken within the last month, which is stricter than most.
Crop a photo to the United Kingdom spec
Drag the two markers. Put the blue one on the very top of the head — including hair — and the red one on the bottom of the chin. Every measurement below is calculated from that, because United Kingdom measures head height as 29–34 mm crown to chin, not the face.
Your photo
Result
The official requirements
| Printed photo size | 35 × 45 mm |
|---|---|
| Head height | 29–34 mm, crown to chin |
| Background | Plain light grey or plain cream |
| Digital dimensions | at least 600 × 750 px |
| File size | 50 KB – 10 MB |
| How recent | Taken within the last month |
| Glasses | Best removed. If worn, there must be no reflection or glare and the frames must not cover the eyes. Tinted lenses and sunglasses are not accepted. |
| Head coverings | Not permitted unless worn for religious or medical reasons. The full face must be visible. |
| Expression & pose | Neutral expression, mouth closed, no grinning, frowning or raised eyebrows. Eyes open, visible, facing forward. |
| Children & infants | Children under 1 do not need their eyes open and may be supported by a hand that is not visible, or photographed from above lying on a plain light-coloured sheet. Children under 6 do not have to look directly at the camera or hold a neutral expression. The child must be alone in the photo, with no toys or dummies. |
| Not published | 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: HM Passport Office / GOV.UK — Photos for passports — read 2026-07-26.
Worth knowing
HM Passport Office publishes the print dimensions (45 mm high × 35 mm wide, crown-to-chin 29–34 mm) in its printed-photo guidance, while the current digital-upload page states the pixel minimum and file size range without restating the millimetre figures. The digital page does not name an accepted file format explicitly, so that field is left empty. Note the unusually strict one-month recency rule.
How to make one
- 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.
- Stand far enough from the wall that you cast no shadow on it. The background needs to be plain light grey or plain cream — the tool fills only the area outside your photo's edges, it does not replace the wall behind you.
- Drop the photo into the tool above. Nothing is uploaded; the file is read directly by your browser.
- 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.
- Check the head-height readout. It should sit between 29 mm and 34 mm; the panel turns green when it does.
- Download the photo. If the result would exceed the 10 MB upload limit, it is compressed to fit before saving.
Why United Kingdom photos get rejected
Drawn from the official guidance rather than guesswork. Most rejections are not about dimensions at all:
- Red-eye
- Hair covering the eyes
- Shadow on the face or the background
- Not facing forward or not looking at the camera
- Head covering worn without a religious or medical reason
- Photo more than one month old
The file size trap
A correctly framed photo still gets rejected if the file is too large. United Kingdom caps uploads at 10 MB , with a floor of 50 KB. The cropper above compresses to fit automatically when you download. If you already have a correctly framed photo and only need it resized, the compress tool will hit an exact target without touching the framing.
United Kingdom 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 uk passport photo?
35 × 45 mm, according to HM Passport Office / GOV.UK — Photos for passports. Within that, the head must measure 29 mm to 34 mm from crown to chin.
What is the maximum file size?
10 MB, with a floor of 50 KB. This is where a lot of otherwise-valid photos fail — the framing is right but the file is too big. The compress tool will hit an exact target if you already have a correctly framed photo.
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. United Kingdom requires plain light grey or plain cream, 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 month. Reusing the photo from your previous passport is a standard rejection reason.
Can I wear glasses?
Best removed. If worn, there must be no reflection or glare and the frames must not cover the eyes. Tinted lenses and sunglasses are not accepted.
Are head coverings allowed?
Not permitted unless worn for religious or medical reasons. The full face must be visible.
Do the rules differ for babies and children?
Children under 1 do not need their eyes open and may be supported by a hand that is not visible, or photographed from above lying on a plain light-coloured sheet. Children under 6 do not have to look directly at the camera or hold a neutral expression. The child must be alone in the photo, with no toys or dummies.
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 HM Passport Office / GOV.UK — Photos for passports on 2026-07-26 — check the source before you submit, because rules change.
Other specs
- Brazilian Passport Photo 50 × 70 mm · not published for applicant-supplied photos
- Canadian Passport Photo 50 × 70 mm · head 31–36 mm · plain white or light-coloured · max 5 MB
- Chinese Passport Photo 33 × 48 mm · head 28–33 mm · white
- French Passport & CNI Photo 35 × 45 mm · head 32–36 mm · plain light-coloured — light blue or light grey. white is explicitly not allowed.
- German Passport & ID Photo 35 × 45 mm · head 32–36 mm · solid
- Indian Passport Photo 35 × 45 mm · plain white
This is not official advice. img-fix is not affiliated with any government or immigration authority. The figures on this page were read from HM Passport Office / GOV.UK — Photos for passports on 2026-07-26, and requirements change without notice. Check the official source before you submit.