UK visa and passport digital photo requirements
Updated 2026-09-20
Last checked: 2026-09-20. Verify with the official source before submitting.
HM Passport Office and UK Visas and Immigration accept a digital photo you upload yourself for online passport renewals and many visa applications. The one number everyone agrees on is the minimum resolution: 600 pixels wide by 750 pixels high, a 4:5 portrait. Anything smaller is refused by the upload step.
This guide is careful about what is official and what is not. The 600 x 750 minimum is the GOV.UK rule as summarised by several tool sites; the file-size band of roughly 50 KB to 6 MB comes from a third-party upload guide and is not something we have read on GOV.UK itself. Both sources are linked in the table so you can check the live page before you submit.
Requirements at a glance
| Requirement | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum dimensions | 600 x 750 px (width x height), 4:5 portrait | GOV.UK rule as summarised by Passlens |
| File format | JPG or PNG (HEIC not accepted) | Passlens upload guide (third-party) |
| File size | about 50 KB to 6 MB (third-party figure; not read on GOV.UK) | Passlens upload guide (third-party) |
| Official page to verify | GOV.UK passport photo guidance | gov.uk |
Open the tool with these settings
Centre-crops to 4:5 and saves as JPG. Leave space above the head in the original.
Only if your camera saves HEIC. The resizer also accepts HEIC directly.
All tools linked here run in your browser; the photo is never uploaded to GivenTool.
The digital photo rule
GOV.UK's passport photo guidance covers both printed and digital photos. For a digital photo taken with a phone or camera the image must be at least 600 pixels wide and 750 pixels tall, in colour, unedited, and taken in the last month for passports. The composition rules are the familiar ones: plain light background, face straight on, eyes open and visible, nothing covering the face, no shadows.
A phone photo taken in portrait orientation is already close to 4:5 in many cameras (3:4 is common), so the resizer only needs to trim a little from the top and bottom rather than making a drastic crop. Take the photo from about 1.5 metres away and leave space above the head; the person's head and shoulders should fill the frame after cropping.
File format and size
Upload guides for UKVI report that JPG and PNG are both accepted and that files between about 50 KB and 6 MB succeed. That band is generous: a 600 x 750 JPEG at 90% quality is usually 80 to 200 KB, and even a 1200 x 1500 version stays under 1 MB. If your file is a HEIC from an iPhone, convert it to JPG first; HEIC is not accepted.
Because the official page we could verify states the pixel minimum but we have not read a file-size figure there, the table below marks the size band as third-party. Treat it as a practical guide, not a rule.
Step by step
Open the image resizer with the UK visa preset. It scales and centre-crops to exactly 600 x 750 and saves as JPG. If you would rather keep a larger image, switch to exact-pixel mode and enter 1200 x 1500; the ratio is what matters.
Check the result card for 600 x 750 and a file size in the tens or hundreds of kilobytes. There is normally no need to compress.
Upload it in the application. If the site rejects the image for quality reasons (shadows, background, head too small), the fix is to retake the photo, not to resize it again.
Frequently asked questions
Is 600 x 750 the exact size or the minimum?
The minimum. Larger images with the same 4:5 ratio, such as 1200 x 1500, are accepted. Smaller ones are refused.
Can I use the same photo for a passport and a visa?
The pixel rule is the same, but passports require the photo to be taken within the last month, while visa applications generally allow six months. Check the specific application.
The upload said my photo failed the quality check. Is it the file?
Usually not. Once the dimensions pass, the automatic check looks at lighting, background and face position. Retake the photo against a plain wall in daylight with no shadow behind you.
Why does this guide say some numbers are unverified?
We only state a number as official when we have read it on the issuing authority's page. The 600 x 750 minimum is the GOV.UK rule; the file-size band we could only confirm from a third-party guide, so it is labelled that way.
This guide summarises published requirements for convenience. It is not legal advice and GivenTool is not affiliated with any government. The issuing authority's page is the only authoritative source.
Last checked: 2026-09-20. Verify with the official source before submitting.