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Schengen visa photo
35 × 45 mm at 300 dpi, ready to print. Schengen wants a photograph, not a file.
More free conversions, where you upload. The Fylane extension does the same work inside any upload form, on its own free share every day.Add to Chrome
How to make a Schengen visa photo
- Drop a photo of yourself against a plain light wall.
- Move the box so your face fills about three quarters of its height.
- Press Make photo, then print it at 35 × 45 mm.
What happens to your file
A Schengen visa application wants a printed photograph, not an upload: the biometrics are captured at the consulate. The European Commission’s own guidance asks for a photo “no more than 6-months old”, “35–40mm in width”, taken “with a plain light-coloured background”, and “a close up of your head and top of your shoulders so that your face takes up 70–80% of the photograph”.
The Commission states a width and no height. Every member state’s own checklist that we could read states the same physical size — Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland and Denmark all publish 35 × 45 mm — so that is what this page makes: 413 × 531 pixels, which is exactly 35 × 45 mm at 300 dpi.
Take the file to any photo counter and ask for a 35 × 45 mm print, or place several on one 10 × 15 cm sheet and cut them apart.
The crop and the encode happen in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
What we do not publish, because no authority does: there is no official pixel size, file format or kilobyte limit for a Schengen visa photo. Any page giving you one has invented it. If your particular consulate asks for an upload, use the size it states.
Questions
What size is a Schengen visa photo?
35 × 45 mm, printed. That figure comes from the member states — Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland and Denmark all publish it. The European Commission’s own document is looser still: 35 to 40 mm wide, with no height given at all.
How big should my head be in the photo?
The Commission and several member states put it as a proportion, not a measurement: your face should take up 70–80% of the height of the photograph. Denmark states 30 to 36 mm from chin to crown. The widely quoted “32–36 mm” does not appear on any official page we could find.
What file size does a Schengen visa photo need to be?
None is published. Schengen applications take a printed photograph, and the consulate captures your biometrics in person. Treat any site quoting a kilobyte limit for Schengen with suspicion.
What background colour should I use?
Official sources differ: the Commission says “plain light-coloured”, Poland says white, Germany says monochromatic with a clear contrast to your face and hair. A plain, light, evenly lit wall satisfies all of them.
Is the Schengen photo the same for every country?
The physical size is, in practice. Details around headwear, glasses and children differ by member state, so read the checklist of the consulate you are actually applying to.
Do it once, not on every form
A form that wants a square JPEG under 240 KB says so on the page. The Fylane extension reads that, fits your photo to it, and puts it in the field — without you working out what 240 KB looks like.
And it keeps the result. The next application that asks for a résumé, a cover letter and a photo fills all three from one tap, each one refitted to what that site accepts.
Your files stay in the browser, encrypted, on your machine. Nothing is uploaded to keep them and nothing is sent anywhere to fill a form.
Related tools
Do this in code
curl -X POST https://api.fylane.dev/v1/jobs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FYLANE_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"file_id": "<file id>",
"operation": "image.id-photo",
"options": {
"out_width": 413,
"out_height": 531,
"background": "#ffffff"
}
}'The same operation, image.id-photo — A photograph for an identity document: exactly the pixels an authority asks for, under exactly the bytes it allows. Crop it by eye, or let the subject centre it. Upload first with the quickstart; every option is on the operations page. 500 free credits a month, then $5 per thousand.