United Kingdom Photo Requirements
The UK sets a wide file size band — 50 KB to 10 MB — and the floor is the part that catches people out, usually because they compressed the photo for a different portal first. But the band is a check, not a target: GOV.UK also requires the photo to be "unaltered by computer software", and asks you not to crop it, because the service crops it for you.
United Kingdom does not allow an edited photo
GOV.UK requires your digital photo to be "unaltered by computer software", so do not use this or any other tool to make a UK passport photo compliant. It also says "Do not crop your photo - it will be done for you", so cropping is not just unnecessary here, it is against the instructions. The UK differs from Canada and France in one helpful way, though: it does not require a professional photographer, and explicitly lets someone help you take the photo on your own device during the application. So if your file is out of spec, retake it — you do not need a photo shop. Use the checker below only to confirm a file already clears the 50 KB floor and the 600 × 750 pixel minimum.
Requirements by application
United Kingdom publishes a single digital specification.
Passport — online application
Check a photo against this- Dimensions
- 600 × 750 px minimum
- File size
- 50 KB – 10 MB
- Aspect / orientation
- Portrait
- Format
- Not specified
This one has a minimum. A file under 50 KB is rejected for being too small, so compressing as hard as possible fails the check.
“at least 50KB and no more than 10MB”
A genuine 50 KB floor with an unusually generous 10 MB ceiling, so there is a great deal of room between them — and, unusually, no file format is specified at all. If your file lands under the floor, that is a signal to retake the photo at a higher resolution rather than to re-export it: the UK wants the image unaltered by software, and past a point no quality setting can add bytes the pixel count does not support anyway. The recency rule is the strictest here of any country on this site — the photo must have been taken in the last month, and you need a new one for every passport even if your appearance has not changed.
Where these figures come from
Read from GOV.UK photos for passports. The background requirement is a "plain light-coloured background" with your face in clear contrast to it — GOV.UK does not specify cream and does not say "not white", despite both being widely repeated elsewhere. No file format is stated on the page.
GOV.UK says a photo from a booth or shop, using the code option, is more likely to be approved than one taken on your own device. Children have their own rules: under-6s do not have to look at the camera or hold a plain expression, and under-1s do not have to have their eyes open and should be photographed from above lying on a plain light-colored sheet.
This United Kingdom specification was read on 2026-08-08, and United Kingdom can revise it without announcing the change.
Check your own form before you submit
Every figure here was read from an official government page on the date shown. Governments and exam boards revise United Kingdom photo specifications without announcing the change, and many publish a different specification for each form — so the page for your application is the only authority that counts. Open it, check the numbers there, and if they differ from ours, use theirs: you can type any dimensions and any file size into our tool by hand, so you are never limited to the presets.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many photo requirements does United Kingdom have?
United Kingdom publishes one digital photo specification, covering Passport, online application. The figures on this page were read from the official page and verified on 2026-08-08.
United Kingdom photo size for Passport: online application?
600 × 750 px minimum, portrait. File size: 50 KB – 10 MB. Format: Not specified. A genuine 50 KB floor with an unusually generous 10 MB ceiling, so there is a great deal of room between them — and, unusually, no file format is specified at all. If your file lands under the floor, that is a signal to retake the photo at a higher resolution rather than to re-export it: the UK wants the image unaltered by software, and past a point no quality setting can add bytes the pixel count does not support anyway. The recency rule is the strictest here of any country on this site — the photo must have been taken in the last month, and you need a new one for every passport even if your appearance has not changed.
Can I edit or compress a United Kingdom application photo?
GOV.UK requires your digital photo to be "unaltered by computer software", so do not use this or any other tool to make a UK passport photo compliant. It also says "Do not crop your photo - it will be done for you", so cropping is not just unnecessary here, it is against the instructions. The UK differs from Canada and France in one helpful way, though: it does not require a professional photographer, and explicitly lets someone help you take the photo on your own device during the application. So if your file is out of spec, retake it — you do not need a photo shop. Use the checker below only to confirm a file already clears the 50 KB floor and the 600 × 750 pixel minimum.
Other countries
Looking for a size chart across every country instead? See the passport photo comparison.
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