Free Passport Photo Maker Online: Create Passport Size Photos (2026)
Save money and skip the queue. Learn how to take a perfect passport photo at home and use a free passport photo maker to get it right the first time.
Getting a passport photo should not cost you $15 to $20 at a pharmacy or photo studio. With a smartphone, decent lighting, and a free passport photo maker, you can produce a compliant passport photo from home in minutes. This guide walks you through everything you need to know: official size requirements for the most popular countries, how to set up the shot, how to resize and crop your image, and the privacy step most people overlook before uploading their photo online.
1. Why You Need a Passport Photo Maker
Professional passport photo services at pharmacies, post offices, and photo studios typically charge between $10 and $20 for a single set of prints. If the photo gets rejected because of a shadow, wrong dimensions, or an unacceptable expression, you pay again. Multiply that by the number of family members who need passports, and the costs add up quickly.
A passport photo maker online free tool eliminates this expense entirely. Here is a comparison:
| Method |
Typical Cost |
Time Required |
Retakes |
| Pharmacy / Post Office |
$10 - $20 |
15 - 30 minutes (plus travel) |
Extra charge per attempt |
| Professional Photo Studio |
$15 - $35 |
30 - 60 minutes (plus travel) |
Usually included |
| Free Online Passport Photo Maker |
$0 |
5 - 10 minutes at home |
Unlimited |
Beyond cost savings, taking the photo yourself gives you full control. You can retake as many times as you need, check the result against official guidelines immediately, and print only when you are satisfied.
2. Passport Photo Requirements by Country
Every country has specific rules for passport photo dimensions, background colour, and composition. Getting these wrong is the most common reason for rejection. The table below covers the five most requested regions:
| Country / Region |
Photo Size |
Background |
Head Height |
Glasses Allowed |
| United States |
2 x 2 in (51 x 51 mm) |
White |
25 - 35 mm |
No |
| United Kingdom |
35 x 45 mm |
Plain light grey or white |
29 - 34 mm |
No |
| Australia |
35 x 45 mm |
Plain white |
32 - 36 mm |
No |
| Canada |
50 x 70 mm |
White or light-coloured |
31 - 36 mm |
No |
| European Union (Schengen) |
35 x 45 mm |
White, light grey, or light blue |
32 - 36 mm |
Varies by country |
Important: Requirements can change. Always verify the latest guidelines on your country's official passport authority website before submitting your application.
3. How to Take a Perfect Passport Photo at Home
You do not need professional equipment. A modern smartphone camera and a few household items will produce a photo that meets official standards. Follow these steps:
Lighting
- Use natural daylight from a window. Position yourself facing the window so the light falls evenly on your face.
- Avoid direct sunlight, which causes harsh shadows and squinting.
- If shooting at night, use two lamps placed at equal angles to minimize shadows on either side of your face.
- Turn off overhead lights that cast downward shadows under your eyes, nose, and chin.
Background
- Stand in front of a plain white or light-coloured wall. A white bedsheet pinned flat to a wall works well as a substitute.
- Keep at least 30 cm (12 inches) between yourself and the background to prevent your shadow from appearing in the photo.
- Ensure the background is free of patterns, textures, and visible objects.
Expression and Posture
- Face the camera directly with a neutral expression. Mouth closed, eyes open.
- Both ears should be visible. Pull hair behind your ears if necessary.
- Do not tilt or rotate your head. Keep your chin level.
- Look directly into the camera lens, not at the screen.
Clothing
- Wear everyday clothing. Avoid white tops, which blend into the background.
- Uniforms and camouflage are not permitted in most countries.
- Religious headwear is generally allowed if it does not obscure the face, but rules vary by country.
Once you have a good raw photo, a passport photo generator helps you crop, resize, and format it to the exact specifications your country requires. Here is what to look for in a free tool:
- Country-specific templates -- the tool should offer presets for US (2x2), UK (35x45mm), Australian, Canadian, and EU passport sizes so you do not need to calculate pixel dimensions manually.
- Cropping guides -- on-screen overlays that show you where the head, chin, and eye line should fall within the frame.
- Background adjustment -- some tools can automatically detect and replace the background with a compliant white backdrop.
- Print-ready output -- the ability to arrange multiple passport photos on a single 4x6 or A4 sheet for convenient printing at home or at a print shop.
- No watermarks -- avoid tools that add watermarks to the output unless you pay. There are genuinely free options that produce clean results.
- Privacy-conscious processing -- ideally, the tool processes your photo locally in the browser rather than uploading it to a server. If it does upload, make sure to strip metadata from the photo first.
TaskMate offers a range of free tools including a passport photo maker that supports multiple country formats, along with a metadata cleaner to protect your privacy before and after processing your images.
5. How to Resize Photos to Passport Size
If you prefer to resize manually rather than using a dedicated passport photo maker, follow these steps:
- Determine the required pixel dimensions. Convert the physical size to pixels based on 300 DPI (the standard for printed photos). For a US 2x2 inch photo: 2 x 300 = 600 pixels, so your image should be 600 x 600 pixels. For a UK/Australian 35x45 mm photo: approximately 413 x 531 pixels.
- Open the image in any photo editor -- even the built-in Photos app on your phone, or a free tool like GIMP or Photopea.
- Crop to the correct aspect ratio first. For the US, that is 1:1 (square). For the UK/EU, it is 35:45 (approximately 7:9).
- Position your head correctly within the frame. Your head (from chin to crown) should occupy 70-80% of the frame height. Eyes should be roughly in the upper third.
- Resize to the exact pixel dimensions calculated in step one.
- Save as a high-quality JPEG. Use at least 90% quality to avoid compression artefacts that could cause rejection.
6. Common Passport Photo Mistakes to Avoid
Passport photo rejections are more common than you might expect. Avoid these frequent errors:
- Shadows on the face or background. Stand further from the wall and use front-facing light. Even a faint shadow behind your head can trigger rejection.
- Wrong dimensions or aspect ratio. A photo that is a few millimetres off will be rejected. Always use the exact dimensions for your country.
- Non-compliant background. Off-white, cream, patterned, or coloured backgrounds are rejected in most countries. Use pure white.
- Wearing glasses. The US, UK, and Australia all prohibit glasses. Remove them before taking your photo.
- Smiling or open mouth. A neutral expression with a closed mouth is required. Slight, natural smiles are sometimes tolerated, but a neutral expression is always safest.
- Red eye. Avoid using flash directly. If red eye occurs, retake the photo rather than using a red-eye removal filter, which can alter the appearance of your eyes.
- Low resolution or heavy compression. Print at 300 DPI minimum. Avoid screenshots or heavily compressed images.
- Head tilted or turned. Your face must be square to the camera. Even a slight tilt can cause rejection.
7. Passport Photo for Different Documents
Passport-style photos are not only for passports. Many official documents require similar biometric-style photographs, though the exact specifications may differ:
| Document |
Typical Photo Size |
Notes |
| Passport |
Varies by country (see table above) |
Strictest requirements; follow guidelines exactly |
| Visa Application |
Often matches passport size of destination country |
Some embassies have additional requirements (e.g., specific background colours) |
| National ID Card |
35 x 45 mm (common in EU) |
Often same as passport requirements |
| Driver's Licence |
Varies by issuing authority |
Usually taken at the licensing office, but some jurisdictions accept submitted photos |
| Work Permit / Residency |
Often matches destination country's passport size |
Check the specific immigration authority's requirements |
When in doubt, a passport photo generator with country-specific presets is the safest option. Taking one high-quality photo and cropping it to different sizes is far easier than retaking the shot for each document.
This is the step most people skip, and it matters more than you think. Every photo taken on a smartphone contains hidden metadata -- also known as EXIF data -- that can include:
- GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken (potentially your home address)
- Device information including your phone model and serial number
- Date and time the photo was captured
- Camera settings and software version
When you upload a passport photo to an online passport photo maker, a visa application portal, or any other service, all of this metadata travels with the image. If the service is compromised or mishandles your data, your personal details are exposed.
The solution is simple: before uploading your passport photo anywhere, run it through a metadata cleaner to strip all identifiable information. TaskMate offers a free Metadata Cleaning Tool that removes GPS data, device identifiers, and other sensitive metadata from your images in seconds. Your photo looks exactly the same, but the hidden data trail is gone.
For a deeper dive into why this matters and how metadata can be used to track you, read our guide on how to strip metadata from photos.
9. Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You can take a passport photo at home using a smartphone with a good camera, a plain white or light-coloured background, and natural lighting. Use a free online
passport photo maker to crop and resize the image to your country's official dimensions. Print on high-quality photo paper for the finished result.
A US passport photo must be exactly 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm). The head height should measure between 1 inch and 1-3/8 inches (25 mm to 35 mm) from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head. The background must be plain white, and glasses are not permitted.
Most countries require a plain white or off-white background. The US, UK, and Australia all require white backgrounds. Some countries like certain EU member states may accept light blue or light grey. Always check the specific requirements for your country before taking your photo.
Most countries, including the US (since 2016), no longer allow glasses in passport photos. The UK and Australia also prohibit glasses. Even in countries that still allow them, it is recommended to remove glasses to avoid glare and reflections that could cause your photo to be rejected.
Passport photos taken on smartphones contain hidden metadata including GPS coordinates, device information, and timestamps. Before uploading your photo to any online service, use a metadata cleaner like
TaskMate's free Metadata Cleaning Tool to strip all identifiable information and protect your privacy.
Yes, home-printed passport photos are accepted as long as they meet official requirements for size, background colour, lighting, and print quality. Use high-quality glossy or matte photo paper and a colour printer. Many pharmacies and office supply stores also offer affordable printing if you supply the correctly sized digital image.
Final Thoughts
A free passport photo maker puts you in control of quality, cost, and convenience. Take the photo on your own terms, resize it with the right tool, avoid the common mistakes listed above, and always remember to clean the metadata from your image before uploading it anywhere. Your passport photo should contain your face -- not your home address, device fingerprint, or GPS history.
Ready to get started? Try TaskMate's free Passport Photo Maker for instant cropping and resizing, and use our Metadata Cleaner to protect your privacy. For more on keeping your photos private, read our guide on how to strip metadata from photos.
