Schengen Visa Photo Maker — 35x45mm, Free
A Schengen short-stay (Type C) visa photo is almost always 35 x 45mm — digitally 413 x 531 pixels at 300 DPI — with your face filling about 70–80% of the frame height on a plain, light background. It is worth knowing where that number actually comes from, because it is not what the EU itself publishes. The European Commission’s own “Applying for a Schengen visa” page asks only for “a photo in compliance with ICAO standards”, and the photograph guidance it links to states 35–40mm in width and gives no height at all. The 35 x 45mm figure is ICAO Doc 9303's recommended size for a submitted portrait — and Doc 9303 then leaves the final size to the issuing authority. In practice consulates across the 29 Schengen countries converge on it, which is why one photo generally works for a French, German, or Italian application. But it is a widely-followed recommendation, not an EU-mandated dimension, and your consulate is the authority that decides.
JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, SVG · processed entirely on your device
What this tool gives you
| Output size | 35 × 45mm (413 × 531px) |
|---|---|
| File format | JPEG |
Official requirement published by European Commission (Migration and Home Affairs). Requirements change — confirm against that page before you submit.
Schengen Visa Photo Maker — 35x45mm, Free
A Schengen short-stay (Type C) visa photo is almost always 35 x 45mm — digitally 413 x 531 pixels at 300 DPI — with your face filling about 70–80% of the frame height on a plain, light background. It is worth knowing where that number actually comes from, because it is not what the EU itself publishes. The European Commission’s own “Applying for a Schengen visa” page asks only for “a photo in compliance with ICAO standards”, and the photograph guidance it links to states 35–40mm in width and gives no height at all. The 35 x 45mm figure is ICAO Doc 9303's recommended size for a submitted portrait — and Doc 9303 then leaves the final size to the issuing authority. In practice consulates across the 29 Schengen countries converge on it, which is why one photo generally works for a French, German, or Italian application. But it is a widely-followed recommendation, not an EU-mandated dimension, and your consulate is the authority that decides.
Here's the honest part a lot of tools skip: 35 x 45mm is also the standard passport-photo size in the UK, most of Europe, Australia, and many other countries. If your own passport photo is a recent 35 x 45mm one, it is often perfectly reusable for a Schengen application. The "you can't reuse your passport photo" problem mainly affects applicants from square-format countries — most notably the United States, whose 2 x 2 inch (51 x 51mm) photo is the wrong shape for Schengen and has to be re-cropped to 35 x 45mm.
This tool crops and sizes your photo to the 35 x 45mm / 413 x 531px Schengen frame entirely in your browser, with nothing uploaded. One important caveat: while 35 x 45mm is the common baseline, the consulate or visa centre (such as VFS Global) handling your specific application is the final authority on photo rules — confirm their checklist before you submit.
Common questions
Generally, yes. Consulates across the 29 Schengen countries converge on 35 x 45mm (413 x 531 pixels at 300 DPI), so a photo sized for one country's application normally works for another. It is convergence rather than a mandate, though: the EU’s own page asks only for “compliance with ICAO standards”, and ICAO Doc 9303 recommends the size while leaving the final call to the issuing authority. Individual consulates can still add rules around background, recency, or how the photo is submitted, so confirm the specific checklist for your application.
No. A US passport photo is 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51mm) — a square. A Schengen visa photo is 35 x 45mm — a rectangle, taller than it is wide. The shapes are different, so a US passport photo has to be re-cropped to 35 x 45mm, which is exactly what this tool does.
Usually yes, if it's recent. The UK and most European countries use the same 35 x 45mm size for their own passport photos as a Schengen visa requires, so a recent, compliant passport photo is often reusable. Check that it still meets the Schengen background and recency rules (typically taken within the last six months) before reusing it.
White is the safest choice. The Schengen standard allows a plain white or very light grey background, but white is the most universally accepted across consulates and the least likely to be questioned, so use a plain white background if you can.
No. The crop and resize happen entirely in your browser using the Canvas API, so your photo never leaves your device and is not sent to any server.