For online renewal, upload the original digital photo and use the application’s cropping step. A paper application needs a 2 × 2 in print on photo-quality paper (State Department print rules); see our 4 × 6 printing guide for preparing that copy. Do not scan or photograph a print to create your online upload.
Find your renewal route
Online and paper applications use photos differently. Use this short helper to find the official instructions for your situation before preparing a file or print.
Free route helper · U.S. passports · Rules checked October 1, 2026
Find the government instructions to check next. This is guidance, not confirmation of eligibility. Your answers stay in this tool on your device; no name, birth date, or passport number is needed.
Have you already submitted this passport application?
Independent of the U.S. government. Always use the linked .gov instructions to apply.
Check your photo before you renew online
Choose a photo or take one. It’s checked on this phone.
Free. The online form takes your original photo, so there is nothing to buy.
The rules in brief
Sources, checked September 28, 2026: Uploading a Digital Photo (online passport renewal), U.S. Department of State; Passport Photos, U.S. Department of State.
- The U.S. Department of State’s online-renewal upload page publishes no required pixel size or aspect ratio; files must be 54 KB to 10 MB.
- A U.S. passport photo needs a white or off-white background.
- Glasses are not allowed in a U.S. passport photo.
- On its Passport Photos page, the U.S. Department of State says: “Do not change your photo using computer software, phone apps or filters, or artificial intelligence”.
The file
The State Department’s page Uploading a Digital Photo, last updated May 4, 2026, sets out the file rules in a few lines.
- Format
- JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF
- File size
- 54 KB to 10 MB
- The page says the file size “should be between 54 KB and 10 MB”.
- Color
- Color only
- Taken
- In the last 6 months
- Pixel size
- Not published
The upload page does not publish a required pixel size or aspect ratio. You can reposition and crop the photo inside the application. Keep the file sharp, well lit and leave room around your head. Studioless’s square JPEG export is a cropped copy. For online renewal, upload your original file instead of that export.
Check your original file
Your file stays on this device. We read only its header and size, without uploading, changing or storing it.
This does not check whether the full image opens, is undamaged, meets the photo rules, or is original and unedited. Passing these checks does not mean the photo will be accepted.
Keep your original, unedited camera photo. Use the cropping step inside the government application.
File requirements checked October 1, 2026. Follow the State Department’s upload instructions to submit your photo.
The Photo Tool isn’t for online renewal
The State Department also runs a separate website, the Photo Tool, that crops a photo to size. Its own page says it is not for online renewal.
“Do not use this tool if you are renewing your passport online.” “Photo Tool is intended for cropping your photo only when you are applying in person or by mail.”
Online renewal has its own photo step inside the application, where you upload the file and can reposition and crop it. That step is the one the rules on this page are about. What the Photo Tool is for is in The State Department’s Photo Tool: what it does and when to use it.
Framing and cropping
“The bottom frame of the photo should be the edge of your shoulders near where they connect to your arms.”
That puts your head in the upper part of the picture with your shoulders along the bottom. The page also says to leave a little extra room around your face if you’re unsure, because you can crop the photo when you upload it. The application has its own step to reposition and crop.
The page also names three things not to do with the file.
- Don’t photograph a printed photo.
- Don’t scan a physical photo.
- Don’t send the image by text message.
The photo rules still apply
An online photo must meet the appearance rules on the passport photo page as well as the online upload requirements. The upload page includes these reminders.
- A plain white or off-white background with no shadows, texture or objects.
- Nothing covering your face, eyeglasses included, unless for documented religious or medical reasons. A religious head covering must be one color with no pattern.
- A neutral expression or a natural smile, without showing teeth, and both eyes open.
- No employee ID badges or lanyards.
- Your head straight and facing the camera, with your full head in the frame.
Who takes the photo
The upload page’s photo tips (version of May 4, 2026) are written for a photo someone else takes, from several feet away. Its October 2025 and March 2026 versions, at the earlier address, told applicants to have someone take the photo before starting. The current page doesn’t say who must hold the camera, so a photo you take yourself is fine if it meets every rule. A helper, or a phone propped at eye level with the timer, makes that much easier; How to take a passport photo at home goes through both.
Editing and AI
“If your photo is unnaturally edited or filtered, we will not accept it. Do not use a photo you created or edited using artificial intelligence or other digital tools.”
The page also says not to use any kind of filter or retouching tool to change your appearance, and to take a new photo when there is red eye. Cropping inside the application is the only change it mentions. The paper-application page adds that every photo is checked for AI tools. The full picture is in Can you use AI for a passport photo?
The file from your phone
Recent iPhones save photos as HEIC files, and many Android phones save JPGs. Since early 2026 the upload page lists HEIC among the accepted formats, so you can upload the photo the camera saved without converting it. Upload that original file from the phone or a computer it was copied to.
To preserve image quality, the upload page says not to send the photo by text message. Check the original file’s size before uploading: it needs to be between 54 KB and 10 MB. Meeting that file-size range does not, by itself, show that the photo is sharp or meets the other rules.
After you upload
The page describes two checks. The photo tool in the application checks some basic requirements when you upload, and an employee reviews the photo after you submit the application. Passing the tool doesn’t mean the photo has been accepted, so it is worth getting the photo right before you upload rather than relying on the tool to catch problems.
“An employee will review your photo after we receive your application. If there’s an issue, we will send you a letter or email asking you to send us a new photo.”
What that letter asks for, and how long you have to answer it, is in Passport photo rejected: why it happens and what to do next.
What changed in 2025 and 2026
Comparing versions of the upload page at its earlier address shows two changes. The October 30, 2025 version accepted JPG, JPEG or HEIF files. By March 19, 2026 the list read JPG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF, so PNG and HEIC were added over the winter. The 2026 redesign also added the plain statements about AI quoted above, and the pages moved to new addresses.
In July 2026 the travel site TheTravel reported that online renewal was flagging large numbers of ordinary phone photos as altered (report). The same report says the State Department has not acknowledged a widespread problem, and the current photo and upload pages we read do not address the report.
What the page doesn’t say
Four questions the upload page leaves open, and what we found when we looked for the answers.
| Question | What we found |
|---|---|
| Pixel dimensions | Some websites say 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 pixels. The upload page does not publish those dimensions. |
| What “KB” means | 54 KB could be 54,000 or 55,296 bytes. The page does not define the unit. |
| Where the eyes go | The passport pages give no eye position. The visa template’s 1 and 1/8 to 1 and 3/8 inches from the bottom of a 2-inch photo is a reasonable guide. |
| Hair and head size | The public pages measure the head to the top of the head, while the staff manual, 8 FAM 402.1, measures to the top of the skull without the hair. Hair volume can change the measurement. Follow the photo instructions for your application. |
Whether you can renew online at all is covered on the State Department’s online renewal pages. Check those first.
Before you upload
- The photo was taken in the last six months, in color, against a plain white or off-white wall.
- Glasses and hat off, and nothing covering your face.
- Neutral face or a closed-mouth smile, eyes open, head straight.
- Shoulders along the bottom edge, room around the head.
- An original photo without filters or digital edits; use the application’s cropping step if needed.
- A JPG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF file between 54 KB and 10 MB, taken with the camera and not scanned.
Our U.S. passport photo measures your head against the rule and checks the light, the background and the tilt before you pay. It gives you a cropped JPEG and true-size print sheets for paper applications for $9.95, and you pay only after the check passes. These exports do not replace the original file requested for online renewal. If a passport, visa or ID office rejects a photo we made, we refund 100% of the order or make a new photo free. Send us the rejection notice within 60 days of receiving it, and within 6 months of your order. See the full refund terms.