How to make your DS-160 photo
- Have someone take your photo against a plain white or off-white wall, facing the camera, with even light, a neutral expression and no glasses.
- Drop the photo into the box above. US visa and Digital photo are already selected.
- Drag the square so your head fills 50–69% of its height, from chin to top of head, with your face centred.
- Check the result says 600 × 600 px and a size under 240 KB, then select Download.
- Upload the JPG when the DS-160 asks for your photo.
US visa photo requirements
From the State Department'sUS Department of State visa digital image requirements and its photo rules, checked 28 Oct 2026.
| Digital (DS-160) | Printed | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Square, 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 px | 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm) |
| File | JPEG, colour, up to 240 kB, compressed no more than 20:1 | Photo-quality paper |
| Head | 50–69% of the height, chin to top of head (1 to 1⅜ in on a print) | |
| Background | Plain white or off-white | |
| Taken | In the last 6 months, full face, eyes open, neutral expression, everyday clothes | |
Glasses aren't allowed in new visa photos except in rare medical cases with a signed statement. Uniforms, headphones and head coverings that hide your hairline are out too, unless a head covering is worn daily for religious reasons.
How it works
The DS-160 accepts any square from 600 to 1200 pixels. The tool saves exactly 600 × 600, the size the State Department's own instructions crop to, because a smaller image leaves the most room under the 240 kB limit for a high JPEG quality.
The crop box is locked to a square. Your framed area is resampled with a Lanczos3 filter and encoded with MozJPEG, and a search picks the highest quality that keeps the file under 240,000 bytes. The 20:1 compression cap sets a floor too: 600 × 600 colour pixels are 1,080,000 bytes uncompressed, so the file must be at least 54,000 bytes. If a very plain photo comes in under that even at full quality, blank filler that viewers skip is added inside the file; the picture doesn't change.
The JPEG is made from the pixels alone, so it has no camera or location details, and the same photo and crop always produce the same file.
Printed photos for the interview
Some embassies and consulates ask nonimmigrant applicants to bring one printed photo, so check the instructions for the one where you'll apply. Immigrant visa applicants bring two identical 2 × 2 inch photos. Choose4×6 in print sheet above: it places two 2 × 2 inch copies on one standard 6 × 4 inch print, at 300 DPI, with light grey lines to cut along. Print it at 100% size, without borders or scaling.
Common uses
- Filling in the DS-160. The DS-160 asks you to upload a digital photo near the end. Crop a recent photo here to 600 × 600 under 240 kB, then upload it when the form asks.
- Student and work visas. F-1, J-1, H-1B and other nonimmigrant applicants use the same DS-160 photo rules, so one file works for whichever visa you're applying for.
- Prints for the interview. If your consulate wants a printed photo, download the 4×6 inch sheet and print it as one standard photo at a shop, then cut out the 2 × 2 inch copies.