Passport Photo Cropper Online

More than 70% of the frame height means your chin or crown gets cut off. Zoom out until your full head fits within the guide lines with space above and below.

Less than 50% of the frame height means your photo is too zoomed out. The photo will look like a distant selfie and fail the head-size check. Zoom in.

The State Department requires the face to be centered horizontally. Our AI handles this automatically, but check the preview to confirm your nose is at the center of the frame.

Passport photos must be square (1:1). Do not submit a rectangular crop even if it is the right size in one dimension. Our tool locks the crop to square.

If your original photo is under 600×600 pixels, the output will be upscaled and may appear blurry. Start with a photo taken in normal photo mode (not low-res selfie or compressed file).

What size do I need to crop a passport photo to?

US passport photos must be exactly 2×2 inches (51×51 millimeters). In pixels, this is 600×600 pixels at 300 DPI (dots per inch). The photo must be square — no rectangular crop is accepted. Within the 2×2 frame, your head must occupy 50–70% of the total frame height, measured from chin to the top of your head (not hair).

How do I crop a passport photo correctly?

Upload your photo to our tool. The AI detects your face, measures the head-to-frame ratio, and positions the crop automatically so your head is centered and occupies the correct proportion of the frame. You can then adjust the crop manually. When the preview shows your head between the compliance guide lines, the crop meets US State Department requirements.

What is the head size requirement for a US passport photo?

Your head (measured from chin to the crown of your skull, not your hair) must be between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches tall within the 2×2 inch photo. This works out to 50–70% of the total frame height. Our tool displays compliance guide lines — keep your head within the marked zone and the photo will meet the requirement.

Can I crop a passport photo on my phone?

Yes. Our cropper works in any mobile browser — iPhone Safari, Android Chrome, or any other browser. Open this page on your phone, upload your photo, and crop. No app download required. For best results, upload a photo taken with your rear camera (higher resolution than the front camera).

What happens if I crop the photo too tight?

If your head is too large (more than 70% of the frame), the photo will be rejected. Our compliance guide shows a red overlay if your head is out of bounds. Zoom out in the cropper until your head fits within the guide lines. You should be able to see your full head and the top of your shoulders in the final crop.

Do I also need to remove the background when cropping?

For a complete, submittable passport photo you need both: the correct crop AND a plain white background. Our tool handles both steps together. The AI removes your background and replaces it with white, then applies the face-aligned crop — you do not need to do them separately.

What resolution does the cropped passport photo need to be?

The cropped file must be 300 DPI minimum. For a 2×2 inch photo at 300 DPI, the output file must be at least 600×600 pixels. Our export is exactly 600×600px at 300 DPI — the specified output for US passport applications, online renewal, USCIS forms, and Global Entry.

Can I use any image editor to crop a passport photo?

Technically yes — you can use Photoshop, iPhone Photos, or any crop tool. But you would need to manually calculate face position, set the DPI correctly, and ensure the output is exactly 600×600 pixels. Our tool does all of this automatically with face detection, saving significant time and reducing the risk of an incorrectly cropped photo being rejected.