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600 × 600 px photo

Pixel sizes, print layout and the 1 document in 1 country that use a 600 × 600 px photo.

Official sources

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At a glance

A 600 x 600 pixel photo is a square digital image; at 300 pixels per inch it corresponds to 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm). The US Diversity Visa lottery requires exactly 600 x 600 pixels in a JPEG of 240 kB or less, and the DS-160 visa form accepts 600 x 600 up to 1200 x 1200. The head, chin to top of hair, takes 300 to 414 pixels (50% to 69%). Other portals set kilobyte limits rather than pixels.

Six hundred by six hundred pixels is a file specification, not a paper size. It is the smallest image the US State Department accepts with the DS-160 nonimmigrant visa form and the one fixed size it names for the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery entry. The figure comes from scanning: a 2 x 2 inch print scanned at 300 pixels per inch, or 12 pixels per millimetre, becomes a 600 x 600 pixel image.

Other upload portals describe the file in other terms. The US online passport renewal sets no pixel size at all and checks the file weight instead, 54 KB to 10 MB. India's OCI portal takes any square from 200 x 200 to 900 x 900 pixels up to 200 KB, while Indian visa portals give only a square shape and a kilobyte range. The Bahamas asks for a 2 x 2 inch photo at 600 dpi for its online passport renewal, which works out at 1200 x 1200 pixels, double the 600 x 600 figure in each direction. A single 600 x 600 JPEG therefore fits several portals but not all of them.

Get the file right for the portal first: pixel dimensions, file size and format. The composition rules for head size, eyes, background and expression still apply in full once the photo is digital, and they are listed below portal by portal.

600 px600 px
A 600 × 600 px photo drawn to scale.

Documents that use a 600 × 600 px photo

Documents with 600 × 600 px photos
CountryDocumentCategoryDigital sizeBackground
NigeriaVisaVisa600 × 600 pxWhite

Frequently asked questions

Only at 300 pixels per inch. Printed at that resolution, a 600 x 600 pixel file comes out 2 inches square, and the same arithmetic runs backwards when a DV or visa applicant scans a 2 inch print at 300 ppi. On its own, a pixel count says nothing about print size until a resolution is chosen.

It depends on the portal. The DV entry and the DS-160 accept 240 kB or less. India's OCI portal accepts up to 200 KB, Indian Visa Online 10 to 300 KB for a regular visa and 10 KB to 1 MB for an e-Visa. The US online passport renewal needs at least 54 KB and no more than 10 MB.

For the DS-160, yes: any square between the 600 pixel minimum and the 1200 pixel maximum is accepted. For the DV lottery entry, no, because it names exactly 600 x 600 pixels. The OCI portal tops out at 900 x 900 pixels, and the US online passport renewal sets no pixel limit at all.

The US visa and DV rules specify pixel dimensions, file size and format; they set no dpi value for the file. Resolution matters only when you scan a print: a 2 inch square original, scanned at 300 ppi. Going the other way, a 600 x 600 file printed 2 inches wide has 300 pixels in every inch.

Between 300 and 414 pixels tall, measured from the chin to the top of the hair, for US visa and DV images; the rule is written as 50% to 69% of the image height. Place the eyes from 336 to 414 pixels above the lower edge, which is the 56% to 69% band.

Save it as a JPEG and increase the compression step by step until the file weighs 240 kB or less. The State Department caps the compression ratio at 20:1, so stop before that point. A 600 x 600 colour JPEG at 24-bit sRGB is the format the DS-160 and DV entry expect.

No. The UK digital passport photo must be at least 600 pixels wide and 750 pixels tall, a portrait shape, with a file of 50 KB to 10 MB on a plain light-coloured background. A square 600 x 600 image is too short.

No. The renewal application names no pixel dimensions. It accepts JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC and HEIF files from 54 KB up to 10 MB, and you can reposition or crop the photo inside the application. The bottom of the frame should be the edge of your shoulders.

No. The Chinese consular photo sheet asks for a rectangular digital photo of 354 x 472 to 420 x 560 pixels, as a JPEG of 40 to 120 KB, on a background that is white or close to white. A square 600 x 600 file does not fit those dimensions.

Other photo sizes

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Official sources

  1. U.S. Department of State. Photo Requirements (U.S. Visas), including the Diversity Visa section travel.state.gov. Checked 2 November 2026.
  2. U.S. Department of State. Digital Image Requirements travel.state.gov. Checked 2 November 2026.
  3. U.S. Department of State. Photo Composition Template travel.state.gov. Checked 2 November 2026.
  4. U.S. Department of State. Uploading a Digital Photo (online passport renewal) travel.state.gov. Checked 2 November 2026.
  5. Federal Register, U.S. Government Publishing Office. Visas: Enhancing Vetting and Combatting Fraud in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (91 FR 11891, 22 CFR 42.33) govinfo.gov. Checked 2 November 2026.
  6. Ministry of Home Affairs, Bureau of Immigration, India. Frequently Asked Questions (OCI) ociservices.gov.in. Checked 2 November 2026.
  7. Ministry of Home Affairs, India. Requirement of photograph for OCI Registration ociservices.gov.in. Checked 2 November 2026.
  8. Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs, India. Instructions (regular visa application): Photo Requirements indianvisaonline.gov.in. Checked 2 November 2026.
  9. Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs, India. e-Visa: eligibility, documents and photo requirements indianvisaonline.gov.in. Checked 2 November 2026.
  10. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Bahamas. ePassport Online Renewal Services mofa.gov.bs. Checked 2 November 2026.
  11. HM Passport Office, GOV.UK. Photos for passports gov.uk. Checked 2 November 2026.
  12. Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States (sheet by the Department of Consular Affairs, MFA). Photo Requirements for Chinese Visa Application us.china-embassy.gov.cn. Checked 2 November 2026.
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