DS-160 Photo Requirements: How to Upload a US Visa Photo

Digital photo requirements for the DS-160

• Square image: at least 600 × 600 pixels, at most 1200 × 1200 pixels
• JPEG format, file size 240 KB or less
• Color photo in sRGB, not black and white, not edited or filtered
• Head height about 49–69% of the image height; eyes about 55–69% from the bottom
• Plain white or off-white background with no shadows
• Taken within the last 6 months; no glasses; neutral expression; eyes open

Why DS-160 photo uploads fail

• The image is not square, or smaller than the minimum pixel size
• The file is larger than 240 KB — re-save as JPEG with slightly lower quality
• The head is too small or too large in the frame, or the photo was cropped from a group picture
• The background is gray, patterned or has shadows
• The photo was scanned from a print with visible texture or glare

How to make a compliant DS-160 photo at home

Stand in front of a plain wall facing a window, and have someone take the photo at eye level from about 1.5 m away. Upload it to the free US visa photo tool on this site: it crops the image to the required square size, sets the head height, replaces the background with white and saves a JPEG within the file-size limit, with no watermark.

If the upload is still rejected, follow the instructions shown in the DS-160 form; some consulates also ask for a printed 2 × 2 inch photo at the interview.