HM Passport Office digital passport photo requirements
The published requirements are already set. Add your image and FileBelow makes it match — at least 600px wide · under 10 MB · JPEG.
JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, AVIF and BMP. Your file is processed on your device.
The photo must be at least 600 pixels wide and 750 pixels tall, between 50 KB and 10 MB, and vertically oriented. Note the lower bound: a photo compressed too far is rejected just as firmly as one that is too large.
Official source · checked 2026-08-21
The published requirements
| Minimum width | 600 px |
|---|---|
| Minimum height | 750 px |
| Minimum file size | 50 KB |
| Maximum file size | 10 MB |
| Accepted formats | JPEG |
Read from gov.uk on .
Platforms change their requirements without notice. If this page disagrees with the source, the source is right — please tell us so we can correct it. Changes are recorded in the changelog.
What HM Passport Office digital passport photo means in practice
The photo must be at least 600 pixels wide and 750 pixels tall, between 50 KB and 10 MB, and vertically oriented. Note the lower bound: a photo compressed too far is rejected just as firmly as one that is too large.
A rejected photo delays the application, and the fee is not refunded for a resubmission.
Where this image actually appears
This is the photo submitted through the online passport application, not a printed one taken in a booth. It is checked automatically for the technical rules and then by a person for the compositional ones — plain background, neutral expression, eyes open and visible, nothing covering the face.
Preparing one properly
Photograph against a plain, light, evenly-lit wall with no shadow behind the head, and stand well away from it. Use a phone held at eye level by somebody else rather than at arm's length: a selfie distorts facial proportions enough that automated checks sometimes reject it. Crop to head and shoulders before compressing, because that is where the whole file budget should go.
The mistake people make
Compressing as hard as the software allows. This specification has a floor as well as a ceiling, and a photo squeezed to a few kilobytes is refused exactly as firmly as one that is too large. People who have just been told their file is too big routinely overshoot straight through the bottom of the range.
Meeting the requirements
Choosing HM Passport Office above sets every rule in the table at once, and the result panel reports each one with a pass or a fail rather than leaving you to check. Note the lower bound: HM Passport Office rejects a file for being too small as well as too large, so the search aims just under the ceiling rather than as low as it can go.
To see what is wrong before changing anything, the HM Passport Office requirement check reports every rule against your file without processing it.
Common questions
- What size should a HM Passport Office digital passport photo be?
- at least 600px wide · under 10 MB · JPEG. Those are the values published by HM Passport Office itself, read from its documentation on 2026-08-21 — the source link is on this page so you can check it. Platforms change requirements without announcing it, so verify before anything important.
- Can I use a phone photo for a UK passport application?
- Yes. The service accepts a digital photo taken on a phone, provided it meets the published technical rules and the compositional ones — plain light background, neutral expression, no shadows across the face, nothing covering the eyes. A booth photo is not required for the online application.
- Why was my digital passport photo rejected?
- The technical rules — dimensions, file size and format — are the ones a tool can fix, and they are on this page. The other common causes are compositional and cannot be fixed by processing: shadow on the background, a head positioned too high or too low in the frame, glare on glasses, or a facial expression the automated check will not accept. Retake rather than reprocess.
- Is my image uploaded when I use this page?
- No. The image is opened, measured and processed by your own browser. This site is entirely static and has no server that could receive a file, which you can confirm in your browser’s network tab or by going offline after the page has loaded.