DS-160 photo requirements: size, KB and pixels

What the U.S. visa form accepts as a photo file, why uploads fail, and how to turn a phone photo into a file that fits.

By Deftfile · Rules last checked: July 2026 archived copies (Wayback Machine) · Drafted with AI and checked against the State Department pages linked below.

Rules change — check the official page before you apply. Deftfile is not part of the U.S. government and cannot tell you whether a photo will be accepted.

The exact rules

The DS-160 asks you to upload one digital photo. These are the file rules from the State Department's Digital Image Requirements and the content rules from its Photo Requirements page.

Shape: Square: height must equal width.
Pixels: At least 600 × 600, at most 1200 × 1200.
File type: JPEG (.jpg) only.
File size: 240 kB or less.
Compression: Compression ratio of 20:1 or less.
Colour: In colour, 24 bits per pixel, sRGB (what most cameras save).
Background: Plain white or off-white.
Head size: 50% to 69% of the image height, from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head.
Age: Taken within the last 6 months.
Glasses: Not allowed, except in rare medical cases with a signed medical statement.
Scanning a print: The print must be 2 × 2 inches (51 × 51 mm), scanned at 300 pixels per inch.

The Diversity Visa (DV) lottery is stricter on pixels: a square JPEG of exactly 600 × 600, 240 kB or less, with no 1200 × 1200 option.

What the 20:1 rule means in KB

The page gives a maximum file size but no minimum. The compression rule sets one anyway. An uncompressed 600 × 600 colour image is 600 × 600 × 3 = 1,080,000 bytes, so 20:1 compression leaves at least 54,000 bytes, about 54 KB. That figure is our arithmetic, not a number the State Department prints.

At 1200 × 1200 the same sum leaves only about 216 KB to 240 KB, so 600 × 600 is the easier target.

Why DS-160 photos get rejected

There are two checks. The form checks the file when you upload it, and a consular officer later judges the photo itself. The cause is nearly always one of these:

Too big. A photo straight from a phone camera is usually several megabytes, far over 240 kB.
Not square, or too small. A 4:3 phone photo is not square, and a cropped thumbnail may be under 600 pixels.
Wrong file type. PNG and iPhone HEIC files are not JPEG. Renaming a file to .jpg does not change what is inside it.
Squeezed too hard. A very small file, well under about 54 KB at 600 × 600, breaks the 20:1 rule and looks blocky.
The photo itself. Glasses, shadows, a coloured background, or a head that is tilted, too small or too large. The State Department also rejects photos altered to change your appearance, copies of driver's licence photos and low-quality phone photos.

From phone photo to DS-160 file, step by step

Take the photo. Stand in front of a plain white or off-white wall, facing the light from a window so there are no shadows. Take off your glasses. Ask someone else to hold the phone at your eye level, a few steps away, so your head and the top of your shoulders fit with space around them.
Make it a JPEG. If your iPhone saved a HEIC file, convert it first with HEIC to JPG.
Crop and size it. Open the visa photo and signature resizer and pick “US visa (DS-160, DV) — photo”. Drag and zoom until your head fills about half to two-thirds of the frame height. It aims for a 600 × 600 JPEG between 54 KB and 240 KB and tells you if it cannot reach that range. It does not judge head size, background or lighting, so look at those yourself.
Check the file before you upload. The name should end in a single “.jpg”, not “.jpg.jpg”. Your computer's file details should show 600 × 600 and a size at or under 240 KB.
Upload it in the DS-160. The State Department also offers its own free photo tool that crops to exactly 600 × 600; it is linked from the Digital Image Requirements page.

Questions

Is 240 kB counted as 240,000 or 245,760 bytes?

The page says “240 kB (kilobytes)” and does not say which. A file of 240,000 bytes or less passes either way, and that is the limit our resizer uses.

Can I upload a PNG?

No. The rules say JPEG. Convert it to JPEG rather than renaming the file.

Do I still need a printed photo?

Some embassies and consulates ask you to bring one printed photo that meets the same rules to the interview. Check your embassy's instructions. If you need a 2 × 2 inch print, the passport photo resizer makes a print-ready JPG.

If the photo uploads, is it accepted?

Not necessarily. Passing the upload check only means the file fits. The State Department says acceptance is at the discretion of the embassy or consulate where you apply.

Is my photo sent to Deftfile?

No. Our tools run inside your browser, so the photo stays on your device.

Limits of this guide

The State Department's site blocks automated access, so we could not open the live pages. The numbers here were checked against Wayback Machine copies of the Photo Requirements page (July 9, 2026) and the Digital Image Requirements page (July 13, 2026); the rules may have changed since. Only the official pages and the officer who reviews your application decide.