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US visa photo
Square, 600×600 to 1200×1200, under 240 KB. The State Department’s own numbers.
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 US visa photo
- Drop a photo of yourself against a plain white wall.
- Move the square so your head and shoulder tops fill it.
- Press Make photo and download the 600×600 JPEG.
What happens to your file
The US Department of State states the digital image rules for a visa photo exactly: “The image dimensions must be in a square aspect ratio (the height must be equal to the width). Minimum acceptable dimensions are 600 x 600 pixels. Maximum acceptable dimensions are 1200 x 1200 pixels”, “The image must be in JPEG file format”, and “The image must be less than or equal to 240 kB (kilobytes)”. This page writes exactly 600 × 600 JPEG under 240 KB, which satisfies all three.
The Diversity Visa lottery is stricter still — it asks for 600x600 pixels exactly, not a range — so the same file works for a DV entry.
A JPG, PNG or WebP is cropped and encoded in your browser. Your face is never uploaded to us or to anyone else; the page works with the network unplugged.
What we cannot check for you: the State Department also requires that “the top of the head, including the hair, to the bottom of the chin must be between 50% and 69% of the image’s total height”, that the photo be in colour and taken within the last six months, and that the background be plain white or off-white without shadows. Position the square with that head rule in mind — a machine at the consulate measures it.
This is not the US passport photo rule. A passport photo is a printed 2 × 2 inch photograph, or for online renewal a JPG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF between 54 KB and 10 MB with no pixel limits at all. If you are renewing a passport, use the passport photo page instead.
Questions
Is 600×600 the right size for a US visa photo?
Yes — it is the minimum the State Department accepts, and the exact size the Diversity Visa lottery demands. Anything up to 1200×1200 is also accepted for a visa, as long as it stays square and under 240 KB.
Why does my photo have to be under 240 KB?
The State Department caps the upload at 240 kilobytes and also asks that the compression ratio stay at or under 20:1. This page lowers the JPEG quality only as far as the cap requires, and never reduces the 600×600 size to get there.
Is this the same as a US passport photo?
No, and this is the most common mistake people make. 600×600 and 240 KB are the visa rules. A passport photo is printed at 2 × 2 inches, and the online renewal upload accepts JPG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF between 54 KB and 10 MB with no stated pixel size.
How much of the frame should my head fill?
Between 50% and 69% of the image height, from the top of your hair to the bottom of your chin, with your eyes between 56% and 69% of the height from the bottom. Move the crop square until that looks right before you press the button.
Can I use a photo taken on my phone?
Yes, if it is in colour, recent, well lit, and taken against a plain white or off-white wall with no shadow behind you. Hold the phone at eye height rather than looking up at it.
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": 600,
"out_height": 600,
"max_bytes": 245760,
"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.