The Passport Seva specification
For passport and most visa applications in India:
- Size: 2 × 2 inches (51 × 51mm), square.
- Pixels: 600 × 600 at 300 DPI.
- Background: plain white.
- Face coverage: roughly 70–80% of the frame, centred and facing forward.
- Colour photo, taken recently, sharp and evenly lit.
- Neutral expression with both eyes open and mouth closed.
- No caps, no sunglasses, no shadows on the face or background.
File size limits on Indian portals
Indian government portals are unusually strict about byte size, and the limits differ by service. Passport Seva generally accepts photo uploads between 20KB and 200KB as JPEG. Other services — UPSC, SSC, state exam boards, PAN and Aadhaar updates — often specify narrower windows such as 20–50KB, and frequently impose a separate, smaller limit for the signature.
Set your dimensions here first, then use the target-size compressor to land inside the window. Watch for a minimum as well as a maximum: a file that compresses below the floor will be rejected just as a file over the ceiling would.
The signature upload
Most Indian application portals require a separate scanned signature alongside the photo, typically around 140 × 60 pixels and under 20KB.
Sign in black ink on plain white paper, photograph or scan it in even light, crop tightly to the signature, and compress. PNG keeps the strokes crisper than JPEG at these sizes — use it if the portal allows it.
Frequently asked questions
- What file size does Passport Seva accept?
- Typically 20KB to 200KB as JPEG for the photo. Confirm against the current instructions on the portal, since individual services vary.
- Is the Indian passport photo size the same as the US one?
- The dimensions match at 2 × 2 inches. India requires a plain white background, while the US permits white or off-white, and the head-size rules are specified slightly differently.
- Can I use the same photo for a visa application?
- Usually, for services that specify 2 × 2 inches. Many countries issuing visas to Indian applicants require their own size — most commonly 35 × 45mm — so check the destination country's requirement.