Passport photo maker
Upload a selfie. This passport photo maker runs all 14 official checks free, before you pay anything.
Start the free checkConfirm your document, upload a photo from your phone or laptop, and see every check pass or fail before you decide anything. The passport photo maker does the measuring.
Measured against the published specification for this document
Sample portrait. This is what the checks measure.
Free to check · Photo from $9.99, one-time · No account · Your photo never leaves your phone
Ricebowl is an independent service, not a government agency. This passport photo maker formats your photo to rules other people publish, so confirm the requirement with the authority issuing your passport or visa.
6 sample faces you can run through the passport photo maker without uploading your ownBeforeAfterChecked against 14 official rules, not a generic template
Every measurement comes from a published rule, not our opinion
Any app can crop a square. This passport photo maker also measures your photo against the 894 document specifications it carries and reframes it to the official size.
1. Confirm and upload
Your country is pre-selected. Change it if we guessed wrong, then send a phone selfie.
2. Measure
Head height, eye line, head angle, background and exposure are measured on your device by the passport photo maker.
Processing…
3. See the results
Every pass, warning and fix appears before any payment step.
BeforeAfter4. Download
Take the digital file, or a 4x6 print sheet at 300 DPI for any print shop.
We never reshape your face. The U.S. Department of State prohibits digital alteration of identity photographs, and most other authorities say the same. This passport photo maker sizes, crops and prepares the background only. Nothing on your face moves.
Two sets of rules apply at once. The biometric rules most countries share come from the International Civil Aviation Organization: neutral face, open eyes, plain background, nothing hiding the features. The size and framing numbers each authority writes for itself, and the passport photo maker reads them from your document. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
14 checks on every photo, free
Run the 14 checks free
Every check in this passport photo maker is free and runs on your device. You pay once, $9.99 for the digital photo or $12.99 with the 4×6 print sheet, only after every check passes.
Built on the standards passport offices cite
ICAO Doc 9303
The travel document standard national passport photo rules descend from.
ISO/IEC 19794-5
The international standard for face image data: size, pose, lighting, background.
22 CFR 51.21
The US regulation fixing the 2 by 2 inch frame and the head height range.
Schengen Visa Code
The EU rules consulates apply to visa and residence permit photos.
Cut to your document's own numbers
The passport photo maker reads size, head height, eye line and background from the document you pick, so a US photo is not a European one cropped smaller.
Every number links to the page it came from
Where we have the authority's own page, the number links straight to it. Where we could not confirm one, the card says so instead of guessing.
You see the full result before you pay
Every pass, warning and fix appears first. If anything fails, the payment step does not open.
Passports, visas, ID cards and licenses in one place
Residence permits and driver's licenses run through the same tool, with their own published size and background.
894 document specifications
Pick a document and click a sample face to watch the same portrait get cut to that country's numbers, before the passport photo maker touches anything of yours.
Choose a document:
Click on any face:
These are published specifications, not a measurement of your face. Your own photo is measured on your device by the passport photo maker.
Final photo:
These are published specifications, not a measurement of your face. Your own photo is measured on your device by the passport photo maker.
A phone is enough. Light, background and clothes decide whether it passes, and the passport photo maker checks all three.
Face a window, plain wall behind you
Daylight on your face and the wall at once. Hold the phone at arm's length, 16 to 20 inches away, at eye height.
Avoid
Wear plain clothes in a color that is not the wall
A white top on a white wall disappears into it. No uniforms, logos, busy patterns, or anything covering the chin.
Do
Don't
Take five, not one
Small changes in tilt and light decide it. Shoot several, upload the best, and the passport photo maker reports each rule separately so a retake is a specific fix, not a guess.
US passport photo (example)
Photo size: 51 × 51 mm
Head size: 25–35 mm
Format: JPEG / JPG (602 × 602 px)
Background: Plain white or off-white, free of shadows, texture and objects
Quality: no shadow, blur or noise
Clothing: plain, neutral color
Baby photos get rejected more than any other kind, usually for the same three mistakes. A bedsheet and an overhead shot beat a studio, and this passport photo maker applies the same 14 checks to a baby passport photo as it does to yours.
Photos that pass
Lying down, shot from directly aboveFace centered, eyes open where you can manage it, mouth closed.
Plain, light backgroundA smooth sheet pulled tight and evenly lit, with no folds or shadow.
Sharp, high-resolution imageEnough detail to survive the crop, in a printable JPG or PDF.
Photos that get rejected
A supporting hand or arm in the frameThe most common baby rejection of all: one person in the photo means one person.
Eyes shut or mouth open mid-cryDeep folds in the sheet count too: their shadows read as a patterned background.
Objects in the framePacifiers, toys, hats and blankets cover the outline the authority needs to measure.
Most passport photo makers upload your face to a server and ask you to trust a policy page. This passport photo maker runs the whole thing in your browser: the measuring, the crop and the print sheet all happen on your device.
The passport photo maker measures your face and builds the finished crop where the photo already is. Close the tab and it is gone.
No sign-up before the check, and nothing on our side to delete afterward, because nothing arrived.
Your photo cannot become training data, because it never reaches us in the first place.
Scenario first: which document, which rule caught them out, and what they changed after running it through the passport photo maker.
Megan RoweI knew about the 2×2 inch crop but not that head height is measured in millimetres. The passport photo maker came back with 31 mm against a 25 to 35 mm range, so the retake was obvious rather than a guess.
First-time applicant, United States
Tom HollisThe background warning caught a shadow on my wall that I genuinely could not see on my phone screen. Moved half a metre forward, ran it again, passed.
Student visa applicant, United Kingdom
Claire DupontI did not know the French background is light grey rather than white. It set that for me instead of letting me send a white one and find out in six weeks.
Renewal, France
Raj PatelSame photo, two documents, two different crops. Watching the numbers change was what finally explained why the old one could not be reused.
Family application, Canada
Wei Zhang33 by 48 mm and the pixel output were both on screen, so I knew exactly what to send to the online system.
Renewal, China
Ana GuzmanThere was a note that the photo has to be from the last 30 days. I was about to reuse one from last year.
Visa applicant, Mexico
Marta KowalczykThe baby section described the exact mistake I was about to make, with my hand under her head holding her up.
Parent, Schengen visa
Josh TurnerThis passport photo maker opened with a check, not a form asking for my email. That is the only reason I stayed long enough to finish.
Remote worker, Australia
Noor AlmasiThe chin-level warning was the one I would never have spotted myself. Two degrees of tilt, and it told me which way to move.
First-time applicant, United Arab Emirates
Kasia WozniakIt said what to change instead of just turning an item red. I fixed the light and it passed on the second try.
Renewal, Poland
Ife OkonkwoIt told me plainly that it had not confirmed my country's rule against an official page. I would rather be told than be guessed at.
Passport application, Nigeria
Yuka MoritaThe print sheet meant I walked into a shop with one file instead of paying a booth for four photos I had not seen yet.
Renewal, Japan
Short answers first. Confirm the final requirement with the authority that will receive your application.
The check is free, all 14 items, with no account and no email. You see every result and a watermarked preview before a payment step exists at all. The clean photo is $9.99 one-time, or $12.99 with the 4×6 print sheet and the three extra ID sizes.
No. It runs in your phone's browser, and there is nothing to download and nothing to sign up for. The whole run, from confirming your document to reading the 14 results, takes about 60 seconds on a normal phone.
No, and nothing that says otherwise is telling you the truth. The issuing authority decides and can refuse a photo for reasons no software can see. We show you the published rules and which ones your photo fails.
No. It is read where it already is, and the finished crop is built there too. Scoring sends a short list of measurements, used once and dropped.
No. A smile moves the distances between your features, and those distances are what the photo records. Keep a neutral face with the mouth closed; the passport photo maker fails a raised corner or an open mouth.
Plain everyday clothes in a color that is not your background: a white shirt on a white wall makes your shoulders disappear. Skip uniforms, logos and high collars. Religious head coverings are fine.
In most countries, no. The United States, the United Kingdom and many others ask you to remove them entirely. Select your document and this passport photo maker shows the published rule with a link to the page that says so.
Yes, as long as they do not cover your eyes or cast a shadow over them. Long hair and hair pushed forward are fine while the eyes and eyebrows stay visible. Otherwise pin it back.
No. A shadow on your face or the wall behind you changes the shape the authority measures, and it is one of the most common rejection reasons. Stand about 2 feet from the wall, facing a window.
Face a window with a plain wall behind you, hold the phone at eye height about 16 to 20 inches away, and take several. Upload one and the passport photo maker tells you which rule, if any, needs a retake.
It depends on the authority, not just the country: 2×2 inches in the United States, 35×45 mm across most of the European Union, 50×70 mm in Canada. Select your document and the published numbers appear next to the preview.
Usually yes. Counter rejections are almost always a smile, glasses, a shadow, an uneven background, or a head at the wrong size. Upload the same photo into the passport photo maker and every rule is scored separately.
Use the 4×6 inch sheet at 300 DPI. It lays out copies at the exact size with cut lines, so any print shop can produce them. A few authorities still specify matte paper.
Sometimes, but do not assume it. One source photo can be tested against several specifications in this passport photo maker, but background color and head height differ by authority.
