How to check your photo
- Choose Green card lottery (DV) or US visa (DS-160). DV is selected already.
- Drop in the exact JPG you plan to upload, not the original from your camera.
- Read the results. Anything marked as failing will get the photo rejected by the form or by an officer.
- Move the two lines on the photo to the top of your head and your chin to check the head size.
- If something fails, make a new file with the DV lottery photo tool and check it again.
What the checker tests
The rules come from the State Department'sUS Department of State visa digital image requirementsand its US Department of State visa photo requirements, both checked 28 Oct 2026.
| Rule | DV entry | US visa |
|---|---|---|
| Format | JPEG | JPEG |
| Dimensions | Exactly 600 × 600 px | Square, 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 px |
| File size | 240 kB or less | 240 kB or less |
| Compression | 20:1 or less | 20:1 or less |
| Color | 24-bit color, sRGB | 24-bit color, sRGB |
| Head size | 50–69% of the height | 50–69% of the height |
What software can't check
These rules decide many rejections, and only a person can judge them. Look at your photo for each one.
- Taken in the last 6 months, showing how you look now. The checker shows the camera's date if the file has one, but cameras can be set wrong.
- Facing the camera, full face, both eyes open, neutral expression.
- No glasses, headphones or uniform. Head coverings only for daily religious wear, with the full face visible.
- Even light: no shadows on your face or behind you, no red eye.
- Sharp and unedited: no filters, beauty modes or background replacement. The rules forbid changes to your appearance.
How it works
The file checks read the JPEG's own headers rather than the picture you see. The start-of-frame header gives the stored width and height, the number of color channels (3 for color, 1 for black and white, 4 for CMYK) and the bits per channel, so 24-bit color means 3 channels of 8 bits. The size limit is read as 240,000 bytes; a file between that and 245,760 bytes (240 × 1,024) gets a warning, because it passes only if the form counts a kilobyte as 1,024 bytes.
Compression is the uncompressed size, width × height × 3 bytes, divided by the file size. A 600 × 600 photo is 1,080,000 bytes uncompressed, so anything under 54,000 bytes is over 20:1. For the color space, the checker reads the ICC profile embedded in the file, reassembled from its APP2 segments, and looks at the profile's name: “sRGB IEC61966-2.1” passes, “Display P3” gets a warning, and a file with no profile is read as sRGB, as browsers do.
For the background, a copy of the photo no more than 300 pixels across is sampled in a band across the top and down both sides to 60% of the height, where the wall shows above the shoulders. A pixel counts as white or off-white when its brightness is at least 190 out of 255 and its red, green and blue values are within 40 of each other. At least 90% of the band must look like that to pass. The EXIF block is read for the orientation tag and the camera's date, and the file is never changed.
Before you enter
- Use only the official site. DV entries are made on dvprogram.state.gov. Utlty isn't connected to the US government and can't enter the lottery for you.
- Check every photo. Each family member on the entry needs their own photo meeting the same rules.
Common uses
- Before you submit a DV entry. The entry form rejects photos that aren't a 600 × 600 JPEG under 240 kB, and officers disqualify entries over photos that break the rules. Check the exact file you're about to upload, so you find a problem before the deadline.
- A photo made somewhere else. If a studio, an app or a friend made your photo, check the file they gave you. Studio files are often too large, the wrong size or saved in a color space the rules don't ask for.
- Photos for the DS-160. Visa applications take square JPEGs from 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 pixels. Switch to US visa and check the photo before the online form asks for it.