How to resize a photo for passport and ID applications in India

Photo sizing guide · 5 min read

Indian passport, PAN card, and visa applications often reject photos for being the wrong pixel dimensions or file size — even when the photo itself looks fine. Here's how to get it right.

Standard photo requirements

Indian passport: 2×2 inches (51×51 mm), which is roughly 350×350 to 600×600 pixels depending on the portal's DPI requirement. The Passport Seva portal typically expects a square JPEG under 1 MB.
PAN card: Typically 213×213 pixels (3.5×2.5 cm), JPEG format, under 50 KB for some application forms.
Visa applications: Requirements vary by country — US visas commonly require 600×600 pixels in JPEG format, file size between 10 KB and 240 KB.

Always check the specific portal's instructions before submitting, as requirements occasionally change.

Step-by-step: resizing your photo

Take or select a clear, front-facing photo with a plain background.
Open the image resizer and drop your photo in.
Enter the required width and height in pixels (e.g. 600×600 for a passport photo). Turn off "lock aspect ratio" if you need an exact square and your original photo isn't square — though cropping to square first in any photo app gives better results than stretching.
Choose JPG as the output format and adjust the quality slider until the resulting file size fits the portal's limit (shown next to the download button).
Download and upload to the application portal.

Common rejection reasons and how to avoid them

File too large: Lower the JPG quality slider — even 75-80% quality is usually fine for ID photos and dramatically reduces file size.
Wrong dimensions: Use the exact pixel values specified by the portal, not just "2x2 inches" — different portals interpret inches at different DPI.
Wrong format: Most Indian government portals require JPEG specifically. If your photo is a PNG or HEIC (common from iPhones), convert it first using HEIC to JPG or PNG to JPG, then resize.

All of these tools run locally in your browser — your photo is never uploaded anywhere during resizing or conversion.