UK Passport Photo Size: 35x45 mm and the Digital Rules

A printed UK passport photo is 45 mm tall by 35 mm wide. If you are applying online, you upload a digital photo of at least 600 x 750 pixels instead, on a plain cream or light grey background, with a neutral expression, mouth closed, and eyes open. The single number most people miss: your head, measured from the bottom of your chin to the crown, has to fill 29 to 34 mm of that frame.

Those figures come straight from gov.uk's photo guidance for passports. The rest of this covers what the numbers mean, the one distinction that trips people up, and why a US photo preset will quietly fail a UK application.

What size is a UK passport photo?

The printed size is 45 mm high by 35 mm wide, which is where the "35x45" you see everywhere comes from. That is the physical dimension of the paper photo if you get one at a booth or a shop.

Online applicants do not print anything. You upload a digital image, and HM Passport Office wants it at 600 x 750 pixels or larger, saved as a JPEG between 50 KB and 10 MB. The aspect ratio is the same portrait shape as the printed photo, which is why 600 x 750 works: it is the 35:45 proportion scaled up to pixels.

A UK passport photo is 45 mm tall by 35 mm wide when printed, or at least 600 x 750 pixels when uploaded online.

Both formats carry the same head-size rule underneath. Get the head height wrong and the dimensions of the photo will not save you.

What are the full UK passport photo requirements?

Here is the complete spec in one place, taken from the current gov.uk guidance.

Requirement	UK rule
Printed size	45 mm tall x 35 mm wide
Digital size (online)	At least 600 x 750 px
Digital file	JPEG, 50 KB to 10 MB
Head height (chin to crown)	29 to 34 mm
Background	Plain cream or light grey, evenly lit
Expression	Neutral, mouth closed
Eyes	Open and clearly visible
Framing	Head and shoulders, facing forward
Glasses	Allowed if eyes are clear, no glare
Head coverings	Only for religious or medical reasons, face visible

A few of these do more damage than the rest. The background trips up anyone using a phone against a white wall. The head-height band is invisible until a reviewer measures it. And "neutral expression, mouth closed" means the half-smile you think looks friendly is a rejection risk. Photos also need to be recent, taken within the last month, with nothing between your face and the camera.

What is the difference between the printed 35x45 photo and the digital online photo?

They are two formats of the same photo, and people constantly confuse which one they need. If you apply online through gov.uk, you upload a digital image and never touch a printer. If you apply by paper form, you send two identical printed photos at 45 x 35 mm.

The confusion costs time because the specs sound different but describe the same picture:

Format	You need	Where it goes
Printed 35x45 mm	Two paper photos, 45 mm x 35 mm	Posted with a paper application
Digital upload	One JPEG, 600 x 750 px or larger	Uploaded to your online application

The rules that matter most, the cream or grey background and the 29 to 34 mm head height, apply to both. A booth photo that prints at the correct size can still be rejected if the head fills the wrong amount of the frame, and a digital photo at the right pixel count can fail for a shadow behind your shoulder. The dimension is the easy part. The composition inside it is where applications actually get bounced, which is the whole subject of why passport photos get rejected.

Can you wear glasses in a UK passport photo?

Yes, as long as you normally wear them and your eyes stay clearly visible. This is one place the UK is more relaxed than some countries. HM Passport Office allows glasses if there is no glare on the lenses, the lenses are not tinted, and the frames do not cover any part of your eyes.

If you can take the glasses off easily, the safest move is to remove them, because glare is the single most common reason a spectacled photo gets rejected. Thick frames that sit high enough to clip the eye also fail. When in doubt, one photo with and one without gives you a backup.

How is a UK passport photo different from a US one?

The biggest difference is the background: the UK wants plain cream or light grey, while the US requires plain white. The shape and head-height rules differ too, so a preset built for one country will fail the other.

If you have taken a US passport photo before, or you are helping family in both countries, this comparison saves a reprint:

Spec	UK passport	US passport
Printed size	45 x 35 mm	2 x 2 in (51 x 51 mm)
Shape	Portrait rectangle	Square
Digital size	600 x 750 px min	600 x 600 px
Background	Cream or light grey	Plain white
Head height	29 to 34 mm	25 to 35 mm (1 to 1 3/8 in)
Expression	Neutral, mouth closed	Neutral, mouth closed

The US spec is confirmed on travel.state.gov, and we break the square format down in the US passport photo size guide. The practical warning: if you grab a photo taken to the US 2x2 white-background standard and submit it to gov.uk, expect a rejection on background and shape. They are genuinely different documents, and the app store is full of tools that only know the US preset.

How do you get the background and head height right?

The two rules that fail the most UK photos are the ones you cannot eyeball: whether your background is the right tone and evenness, and whether your head fills 29 to 34 mm of the frame. Both are measurable, and measuring them before you submit is the entire game.

For the background, find a wall with no pattern and even light, then check it in cream or light grey rather than white. Shadows are the quiet killer, because a wall that looks plain to your eye often has a gradient the camera picks up. For the head height, the fix is framing: head and shoulders showing, camera at eye level, roughly an arm's length away, then crop to the 35:45 portrait shape.

This is the exact problem Passport & Visa Photo was built to check. It carries a UK preset with the cream or light grey background target and the 29 to 34 mm head-height band, measures your photo against HM Passport Office's published rules, and shows the measured millimetre reading beside the allowed range with the wording of the rule next to it. Its Wall Check grades an empty wall for plainness, evenness, and tone, and names the problem when the tone is wrong, so you know the background will pass before you take the shot.

It matters that nothing gets retouched. The app crops, scales, and saves your real photo, with no AI, no background replacement, and no smoothing, so what passes the check is the same image HM Passport Office reviews. If you would rather nail it manually, our walkthrough on how to take a passport photo at home covers the lighting and camera setup in detail.

UK passport photo checklist

Run this before you upload or post:

1. Size. 45 x 35 mm printed, or 600 x 750 px and up for online, saved as a 50 KB to 10 MB JPEG.
2. Head height. Chin to crown fills 29 to 34 mm of the frame. Frame head and shoulders, camera at eye level.
3. Background. Plain cream or light grey, evenly lit, no shadow, no pattern, no one else in shot.
4. Face. Neutral expression, mouth closed, eyes open and clear, facing straight at the camera.
5. Glasses. Off if you can. On is fine only with no glare, no tint, and eyes fully visible.
6. Recency. Taken within the last month, nothing covering your face.

Get the background tone and the head height right and you have cleared the two rules that reject most UK applications. Everything else on the list is quick to check and quicker to fix.