US Visa Photo: 2x2 Inch, 600x600 Pixels and the 240 KB Limit

The Numbers From the Official Instructions

The Diversity Visa instructions published by a US embassy set out the digital file plainly: JPEG format, equal to or less than 240 kB, square aspect ratio, 600 by 600 pixels, printed at two by two inches (51 by 51 millimetres), scanned at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch, which the same text also gives as twelve pixels per millimetre.

The head measurement in that instruction is specific: from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin, between one inch and one and three-eighths inches, that is 22 to 35 millimetres, or 50 to 69 percent of the image's total height. The eye line has to sit between 55 and 70 percent down from the top of the frame. Background plain white or off-white, photograph taken within the last six months.

The DS-160 photo information page, run by the department's contract service provider, states the same core file rules and rounds the proportions slightly differently: a minimum of 600 by 600 pixels and a maximum of 1200 by 1200, head height between 50 and 70 percent, eye position between 55 and 70 percent, white or off-white background, and a picture taken within the last six months.

Note: Where the two official pages differ, the safe move is to satisfy the tighter of the two numbers. A head at 50 percent of height sits inside 50 to 69 and inside 50 to 70 at the same time.

Where 600 x 600 Comes From

Two inches at 300 pixels per inch is 600 pixels. That is the whole derivation, and it explains why 600 x 600 appears as both the printed size expressed in pixels and the minimum file size: the instructions are quoting a scan of a print, and a scan at a lower density would not fill the frame.

The ceiling, 1200 x 1200, is the same file scanned at 600 pixels per inch or photographed at higher resolution. Bigger is not automatically better once the 240 kB cap is in force, because a fixed byte budget spread over four times as many pixels means a coarser quantisation step for every one of them. A 700 x 700 or 800 x 800 square usually arrives at a better-looking result under the same cap than a 1200 x 1200 does.

The twelfth-pixel-per-millimetre figure is the same rule written metrically: 51 millimetres times 12 is 612 pixels, against 600 from the imperial arithmetic. Both statements describe the intended density; the pixel window is what a validation script checks.

• Target something between 600 and 900 pixels square, not the maximum.
• Keep the frame square: 600 x 600, 700 x 700, 800 x 800.
• Measure the byte size of the finished file before uploading, since recompression is what usually tips it over.
• Aim under 240,000 bytes to satisfy the strictest reading of the 240 kB cap.

Position the Face Before You Crop

The percentages are measurements on the final square, so they are easiest to hit by shooting with room to spare. Have the subject sit or stand roughly a metre from the camera, lens at their eye level, chest square to the frame, with enough wall above the head and below the shoulders that a square crop can be slid into place afterwards.

Then measure. Take the finished square and count pixels from the crown of the head to the bottom of the chin, including hair where it sits on the skull, divided by the full height of the image. That number belongs between 50 and 69 percent. The eye line, measured from the top edge of the frame down, belongs between 55 and 70 percent, which is what stops a correctly sized head from sitting too low in the picture.

A head that is the right size but riding at the wrong height still fails, and cropping cannot always rescue it: shifting the crop window down to bring the eyes into band may push the chin out of the frame. When that happens the photograph, not the file, has to be retaken.

Note: Eyeglasses, shadows behind the ears, a headscarf that covers the hairline and heavy retouching each change where the measurement lands. The instructions are written for a plain, unobstructed face.

Build the File in the Right Order

1. Crop the square first — The aspect ratio cropper set to 1:1, or the passport photo tool's 600 x 600 preset, gives you the frame to measure inside.
2. Then fix the background — If the wall is not white or off-white, repaint it while there is still slack around the head. The tool samples corner colour and replaces pixels within a tolerance, so a flat, evenly lit wall is the precondition.
3. Set the pixel dimensions — Type the exact numbers into the resizer, keeping the ratio locked so the square stays square.
4. Check the proportions with your own eyes — Confirm the crown-to-chin band and the eye line before spending effort on the byte size, because a proportion problem means a reshoot.
5. Compress last — The compressor searches quality downward and then dimensions, so give it a target below the cap and inspect the result at full zoom; artefacts around hair and the shoulder edge are what a reviewer notices first.
6. Verify all three numbers — Pixels, byte size and format on the downloaded file. The order matters: density and dimensions do not change the byte budget much, but compression changes both appearance and size.

What Rejections Usually Come Back To

• A photo older than six months, or one reused across several applications.
• Background that is grey, patterned, or a wall with a door edge in it.
• Head below 50 percent or above the stated band, the most common failure in self-cropped pictures.
• A file above the byte cap, often a PNG or a phone original several megabytes, uploaded without checking.
• Blur, glare on glasses, or a filter that flattens skin texture enough that the measurement landmarks shift.

Note: Consular systems can reject an image for reasons the published list does not enumerate. This page records what the official instructions say, not a promise that any file will be accepted.