US Visa Photo
A 600 × 600 JPEG under 240 kB, exactly as the State Department asks for it.
Rule set by U.S. Department of State · source · checked 2026-08-09
Drop an image here
Or choose a file, or paste a screenshot. It is measured and re-encoded on your device and never uploaded.
Fitting on your device…
That didn't work.
Your image is opened, measured and re-encoded in this browser. It is never uploaded, and nothing about it is stored.
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About the Pathine US Visa Photo
The State Department publishes exactly what a digital visa photo has to be: a square JPEG, no smaller than 600 × 600 pixels and no larger than 1200 × 1200, at or under 240 kB, compressed no harder than 20:1. Almost every page that comes up when you search for those numbers tells you what they are and then leaves you to find a tool. This page is the tool.
Drop a photograph in and you get a 600 × 600 JPEG, under the size limit, with 300 DPI written into it so it declares the 2 × 2 inches the rule asks for. The report lists every requirement against what your file actually is — including the ones about your face, which software cannot check and which this page will not pretend to have verified.
When you'd reach for it
A DS-160 that rejected your photo
The online application checks dimensions and file size before it checks anything else, and its error messages are famously unhelpful about which one failed.
A phone photo that is far too large
A modern phone produces a 4000-pixel image of several megabytes. The requirement is 600 pixels and 240 kB, so the file needs to lose about 95% of its weight.
A photo taken for something else
A passport photo shot at a pharmacy, or a headshot from a work profile, is usually the right picture in the wrong shape. Cropping to square is most of the work.
How to use it
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Drop the image in
Drag a file onto the page, choose one, or paste a screenshot. Nothing is uploaded — the work happens on your device.
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Read the report
Every requirement is listed with a tick or a cross against what your file actually is. Anything the rule asks for that software cannot check is listed too, unticked.
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Download it
The file you get is the one that passed. If nothing could pass, you are told the closest achievable size instead of being handed something that will be rejected.
Common questions
Why 600 × 600 when the rule allows up to 1200 × 1200?
Because of the compression rule. The specification also caps the compression ratio at 20:1, which is a minimum file size in disguise: the output has to be at least a twentieth of the uncompressed image. At 1200 × 1200 that floor is about 216 kB against a 240 kB ceiling — a window under 10% wide. At 600 × 600 the floor is about 54 kB, which leaves comfortable room. Both sizes are fully compliant; the smaller one is much harder to get wrong.
Does this make my photo acceptable?
It makes the *file* meet the file requirements. It cannot judge your expression, the background behind you, or how large your head is in the frame — and those are real requirements that get applications rejected. They are listed in the report as unchecked, which is the honest thing to do with them.
What does the 300 DPI actually do?
It writes a density field into the JPEG saying the image is intended to print at 300 pixels per inch. At 600 pixels wide that is exactly 2 inches, which is the physical size the rule asks for. It does not add pixels or improve the photo — it labels the size the pixels already represent.
Is my photograph uploaded?
No. It is cropped and re-encoded in your browser and never leaves the device. For a photograph attached to a visa application that seemed worth building rather than promising.
Is this the same as a US passport photo?
The printed size is the same 2 × 2 inches, but the digital upload requirements are published separately and can differ. This page follows the visa digital image specification, linked at the top, and nothing else.