Passport Photo Size by Country
There's no single worldwide passport photo size. Most countries use 35x45mm, but several major ones don't — here's each size, traced to the government that sets it.
There is no single worldwide passport photo size. Most countries use a 35 x 45 mm photo, but several of the busiest passport authorities do not: the United States uses a 2 x 2 inch square, Canada uses 50 x 70 mm, and China uses 33 x 48 mm. The size that counts is the one your own government publishes, so this guide lists the real dimensions country by country, each traced to its official source.
Get the size wrong and the application bounces at the counter or the upload screen. If you want the reasons behind the rules first, start with what makes a passport photo biometric and why passport photos get rejected.
Is there a standard passport photo size?
The closest thing to a standard is 35 x 45 mm (3.5 x 4.5 cm), the size most of the world accepts. It is not a global mandate. ICAO Doc 9303 — the international specification behind machine-readable passports — recommends a 45 x 35 mm portrait for submitted photos but leaves the final printed size to each issuing authority. That is why a handful of countries specify something different, and why "a friend used this size" is never a safe basis for your own application. What every country does share is the biometric intent: a sharp, front-facing, neutral face on a plain, evenly lit background.
Passport photo sizes by country
Each size and background below is taken from that country's own issuing authority, linked in the last column. Where a government does not publish a single number, this table says so rather than inventing one.
| Country | Photo size | Background | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 2 x 2 in (51 x 51 mm) | White or off-white | U.S. Department of State |
| United Kingdom | 45 x 35 mm printed, or a digital photo at least 600 x 750 px | Plain cream or light grey | GOV.UK |
| Canada | 50 x 70 mm | Plain white | Government of Canada |
| Australia | 45 x 35 mm | Plain white only | Australian Passport Office |
| China | 33 x 48 mm | White | Embassy of the People's Republic of China |
| Pakistan | 45 x 35 mm | Plain white | Directorate General of Immigration & Passports |
| Brazil | Sources conflict: 50 x 70, 40 x 50, or 35 x 45 mm | White | Polícia Federal (Brazil) |
| Bangladesh | Most adults need no photo (biometrics captured on-site) | — | Bangladesh e-Passport Portal |
Everything not listed above almost always means the plain 35 x 45 mm photo. The exact roster of countries that route to it is on our standard 35 x 45 mm page, which has a country checker so you can confirm yours rather than assume it.
The countries that break from 35 x 45 mm
Three kinds of exception show up. The United States uses a 2 x 2 inch square — a different shape entirely, not a tighter crop of the rectangle. Canada keeps a rectangle but a taller, narrower one at 50 x 70 mm. China goes smaller, at 33 x 48 mm. A few countries also have their own square or non-standard formats and have revised them recently, so if you are applying somewhere not in the table, confirm the current rule with that country's issuing authority before you print. This is also why a visa photo is not automatically a passport photo — the two can differ even for the same country.
How to get the exact size for your country
Once you know your country's number, the job is a precise crop to that aspect ratio and a resize to the exact dimensions — done by eye, it is easy to miss by a millimetre. Start from your country's page so the crop box is locked to that country's aspect ratio and exact output dimensions: US, UK, Canada, Australia, or the standard 35 x 45 mm page. The full country list lives on the Passport Photo Maker hub. For the photo itself, our guide on taking a passport photo at home covers the lighting and framing, and if a portal caps the file size you can resize the image to the exact pixels it wants. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
FAQ
Is 35 x 45 mm the same as 2 x 2 inches?
No. 2 x 2 inches is 51 x 51 mm, a square — wider and shorter than the 35 x 45 mm rectangle. The US and a few other countries use the square; most of the world uses the rectangle. You cannot swap one for the other.
What background colour does my country want?
Most ask for plain white or a light neutral such as cream or light grey, but the exact wording varies: Australia specifies plain white only, while the UK names cream or light grey. Check the authority in the table above rather than assuming white is always accepted.
Can I use the same photo for two countries?
Only if both the size and the rules match, which is rarer than it sounds. A US 2 x 2 inch square will not satisfy a 35 x 45 mm requirement, and background and recency rules differ too. Re-crop from the original high-resolution shot for each country instead of stretching one print to fit.