Digital Photo for U.S. Passport Online Renewal
Renewing a U.S. passport online takes a digital photo that you upload in the application. This page sums up, in this site's own words, the State Department's Uploading a Digital Photo page. Read that page for the full wording.
The digital photo at a glance
The rules on the head, background, lighting, and image quality are the same kind as for a printed photo. See the U.S. passport photo requirements.
| Requirement | What the page says | Source | Retrieved |
|---|---|---|---|
| File type | JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC, or HEIF. | Uploading a Digital Photo | October 16, 2026 |
| File size | Between 54 KB and 10 MB.The page doesn't say whether a KB is 1,000 or 1,024 bytes. | Uploading a Digital Photo | October 16, 2026 |
| Color and how recent | In color, and taken within the last 6 months. | Uploading a Digital Photo | October 16, 2026 |
| Pixel dimensions and shape | Not stated. The page gives no pixel size, no aspect ratio, and no color space. | Uploading a Digital Photo | October 16, 2026 |
| Expression | A neutral expression or a natural smile, without showing teeth. | Uploading a Digital Photo | October 16, 2026 |
| Glasses and hats | Take them off before taking the photo. | Uploading a Digital Photo | October 16, 2026 |
| Where the file comes from | Don't make the file by photographing a printed photo or scanning a paper photo. | Uploading a Digital Photo | October 16, 2026 |
| Digital changes | Don't use filters or retouching tools that change how you look. Edited or filtered photos are turned down, and the State Department checks photos for digital changes. | Uploading a Digital Photo | October 16, 2026 |
Framing the photo
The Uploading a Digital Photo page suggests that the bottom edge of the photo be the edge of your shoulders, near where they meet your arms. If you're not sure, leave some room around your face: you can crop the photo when you upload it.
YepPhoto's digital photo is square and framed like the 2 × 2 inch printed photo, so the head may fill more of it than the framing above suggests.
The State Department's photo tool
The Uploading a Digital Photo page describes a photo tool inside the online renewal application. There you can move or crop your photo, and the tool checks it against basic requirements and, if the photo isn't acceptable, tells you what to change. A State Department employee reviews the photo after the application arrives.
The photo tool described on the State Department's Uploading a Digital Photo page is part of its online renewal application at opr.travel.state.gov. Not everyone can renew online. For example, online renewal is for people aged 25 and over whose old passport was a 10-year passport, with an expiry date no more than a year ahead or under five years ago. Personal information, such as name or sex, must stay the same, the applicant must be in a U.S. state or territory when applying, and the old passport must be in hand, undamaged, and never reported lost or stolen. There are further conditions, so read the full list on the State Department's Renew Your Passport Online page. Anyone who cannot renew online may be able to renew by mail or in person.
Renewals by mail and other paper applications take a printed photo instead. See who needs a printed photo.
How YepPhoto saves the digital photo
The YepPhoto tool saves the digital photo from the same crop as the print sheet. These choices are this site's, not the State Department's:
- The photo is square, to match the 2 × 2 inch printed photo. The Uploading a Digital Photo page doesn't set a shape.
- It's saved as a JPEG at the size of your crop in pixels. It's never enlarged, and this site doesn't adjust the color.
- This site keeps the file between 55,296 and 10,000,000 bytes, so it's at least 54 KB and at most 10 MB whichever way KB and MB are counted.
- It first saves at JPEG quality 100%. If the file is over the upper limit, it tries 92%, 85%, and 80%, in that order. If it's still too large, it shrinks the photo to 4800, 3600, 2400, 1800, 1200, and 600 pixels on a side, the sizes smaller than your crop, largest first, trying each quality again at each size.
- If the file would be smaller than the lower limit, if it's still over the upper limit at every quality and size, or if the crop has transparent areas, it doesn't save a file and says why.
- If your crop is smaller than 600 × 600 pixels, this site's print guide, the digital photo is still saved, with a note that it isn't offered as a print sheet.
- The saved file carries no camera metadata (EXIF).
How the crop and the guide work is on the methods and sources page.
Sources
- U.S. passport digital photo requirements (online renewal), summary version 3
- Sources: Uploading a Digital Photo, Renew Your Passport Online. Retrieved October 16, 2026.