US visa photo size: 600 × 600 pixels and 240 KB explained
The State Department’s digital image rules for US visa photos come down to six technical checks: square shape, 600–1200 pixels, colour, JPEG, no more than 240 kB, and a compression limit. Here is what each one means and how to meet them.
Open the tool with a 240 KB limitThe technical rules
These come from the State Department’s Digital Image Requirements page for visa photos, which we last checked on October 14, 2026. They cover the file only. How your face and background must look is set out separately on the State Department’s photo requirements pages.
| Requirement | Rule | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | Square: height equals width | Crop to a square first. Squashing a 4:3 photo into a square makes faces look stretched. |
| Dimensions | At least 600 × 600 px, at most 1200 × 1200 px | Any square size in that range is allowed. 600 × 600 is the simplest target. |
| Colour | Colour, 24 bits per pixel, sRGB | A normal colour photo from a phone or camera. |
| Format | JPEG | Not PNG, WebP or HEIC. Renaming the extension does not change the format. |
| File size | 240 kB or less | A maximum, so smaller is fine, but see the compression rule below. |
| Compression | Ratio of 20:1 or less | The file cannot be squeezed too hard. This sets a practical lower limit on file size. |
What the 20:1 compression rule means for file size
A 24-bit colour image uses 3 bytes for every pixel before compression. A 600 × 600 image has 360,000 pixels, so it would take 1,080,000 bytes uncompressed. Divide that by 20 and you get 54,000 bytes, roughly 54 KB. At 1200 × 1200 the same sum gives 4,320,000 bytes uncompressed and 216,000 bytes after a 20:1 squeeze.
| Image size | Uncompressed | Smallest at 20:1 | Largest allowed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 600 × 600 px | 1,080,000 bytes | about 54 KB | 240 KB |
| 800 × 800 px | 1,920,000 bytes | about 96 KB | 240 KB |
| 1200 × 1200 px | 4,320,000 bytes | about 216 KB | 240 KB |
This table is our own arithmetic, not a statement from the State Department, which publishes only the ratio and the 240 kB maximum. Treat it as a guide to why very small files can fail, and keep your file comfortably inside the window.
The practical lesson is that a 600 × 600 photo gives you a wide safe window, while a 1200 × 1200 photo leaves only about 24 KB of room between “too compressed” and “too large”. Unless you have a reason to go bigger, choose 600 × 600.
Prepare your file step by step
- Start from the original photo. Do not use a screenshot, a social media download or a photo of a printed picture.
- Crop to a square with your head and shoulders centred. SizeKit does not crop. The State Department offers a free photo tool that crops to exactly 600 × 600 pixels, though it says the tool is for cropping only and does not judge whether your photo is acceptable.
- Open SizeKit and set the width and height to 600 each, the maximum file size to 240 KB, and the download format to JPG.
- Resize and download the result, then check the file’s properties on your computer or phone for the real pixel size and file size.
If you are scanning a printed photo instead, the same page asks for a 2 × 2 inch (51 × 51 mm) photo scanned at 300 pixels per inch, which gives exactly 600 × 600 pixels. See the guide to photo sizes in millimetres, inches and pixels for the conversion.
What resizing cannot fix
A correctly sized file can still be refused. The State Department says photos must not be digitally enhanced or altered to change your appearance, that a State Department employee decides whether the photo is acceptable, and that the embassy or consulate has the final say. Head position, expression, lighting, glasses and background all matter, and no resizer can repair them. If the composition is wrong, retake the photo.
Frequently asked questions
Is 600 × 600 the only size allowed?
No. Any square image from 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 pixels is within the rules. 600 × 600 is the easiest to hit with a file under 240 kB.
Can I upload a PNG or HEIC photo?
The visa digital image page asks for JPEG. Convert PNG or WebP to JPG first. SizeKit can open JPG, PNG and WebP files and download JPG, but it cannot open HEIC.
Does SizeKit send my photo to a server?
No. Resizing and compression happen in your browser, so the photo you choose is not uploaded to SizeKit.