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Resize a Passport Photo on Mac to 2x2 and the Online Limits
To resize a passport photo on a Mac, crop it square in Preview, then use Tools > Adjust Size to set it between 600 x 600 and 1200 x 1200 pixels, and export as JPEG. The US online upload also has a file size cap, so check Get Info before you submit.
These limits are for a US passport photo. Confirm them on the State Department page, because agencies change rules. For other countries, use that country’s own specification.
What are the online passport photo requirements?
For the US State Department online renewal, the photo spec at the time of writing is as below. Confirm each value on the official photo page before you upload, since I could not load that page when I checked and these are the long-published figures.
| Requirement | US online photo |
|---|---|
| Shape and print size | Square, 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm) |
| Pixels | At least 600 x 600, at most 1200 x 1200 |
| File format | JPEG |
| File size | Up to 240 KB |
| Color | Color photo, no filters, no editing of the face |
| Age of photo | Taken in the last 6 months |
Head size, background, lighting and glasses rules also apply, and the checker can reject a photo for them. A resize cannot fix those. Retake the photo instead.
How do I crop a passport photo to square on a Mac?
- Open the photo in Preview.
- Choose Tools > Rectangular Selection and drag a square. Hold Shift to constrain the shape. Keep the head centered with space above it.
- Check the selection size shown on screen, then choose Tools > Crop.
Crop first, resize second. Resizing a wide photo to 1200 x 1200 stretches it and distorts the face, which gets photos rejected. Do not use a fill mode in a batch tool for this job either, because fill crops the middle of the image and you cannot control what is cut.
How do I resize it to 2x2 in Preview?
- With the square photo open, choose Tools > Adjust Size.
- Set the unit to pixels. Make sure Scale proportionally is on and Resample image is checked.
- Enter 1200 for width. Height will also be 1200 if the crop is square.
- Choose File > Export, pick JPEG, and use the Quality slider.
Pick a size inside the allowed range. Going larger than your source adds nothing, so if the crop is 900 x 900 pixels, leave it at 900. For the larger story on pixels and print sizes, see resizing photos for printing on Mac.
Can I do it in Terminal?
# center-crop to a 1500 x 1500 square, then resize to 1200 x 1200
sips -c 1500 1500 photo.jpg --out crop.jpg
sips -z 1200 1200 crop.jpg --out passport.jpg
# set JPEG quality
sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions 70 passport.jpg --out passport_q70.jpg
# check the size in bytes
stat -f%z passport_q70.jpgsips -c crops from the center. If the face is off-center, crop in Preview instead. Note that asking sips to crop to a size larger than the image pads the canvas rather than failing, which I saw in a test. Always read back the pixels with sips -g pixelWidth -g pixelHeight. More on the tool in the sips command guide.
How do I get the file under the size limit?
Lower the JPEG quality. I resized a synthetic 1200 x 1200 test JPEG with sips and saw these sizes. It was noisy test art, not a face, so a real portrait will usually come out smaller.
| sips JPEG quality | File size |
|---|---|
| 90 | 223 KB |
| 70 | 165 KB |
| 50 | 88 KB |
Each step down saves bytes and costs detail. Because the checker looks for compression artifacts, stop at the highest quality that fits under the cap. Do not drop to the lowest setting just to be safe. In Preview, check Get Info in Finder, which shows the size in KB.
If you have the same task for a PDF form or visa upload rather than a photo, see visa and immigration applications.
When is Smol the wrong tool for this?
For one passport photo, Preview or sips is all you need. Smol cannot crop to a chosen area, and its fill mode crops without letting you pick where, so it should not do the crop step. Do not run a photo through Smol before you crop it.
Smol helps after the crop if you have several family photos to shrink for upload. Its Compress operation sets a quality from 0 to 100 and a maximum size in pixels, so you can cap at 1200 and keep each under a size limit. Its default is a 2000 x 2000 pixel fit, which is above the 1200 maximum here, so change it. It strips metadata by default and writes a copy beside the original. $29 once, one Mac, nothing uploaded: see pricing. For the general tool picture, read the best image compressor for Mac.
How we checked this
Ran sips crop, resize and JPEG quality steps on a synthetic 1200 x 1200 JPEG on an Apple Silicon Mac. The State Department page returned 403 to automated fetch, so confirm its limits directly. Facts last checked . We make Smol, so treat our claims about it with the same care as any vendor’s, and see our editorial policy.
Passport photo resizing: common questions
What size is a passport photo in pixels?
For the US online upload it is square, between 600 x 600 and 1200 x 1200 pixels, which corresponds to a 2 x 2 inch photo. Confirm the figures on the State Department site before you submit, since the rule can change. Other countries use different dimensions, so use their official spec.
How do I make a passport photo 2x2 on a Mac?
Crop it square in Preview with Tools > Rectangular Selection and Tools > Crop. Then open Tools > Adjust Size, set pixels, and enter a value from 600 to 1200 for the width. Export as JPEG. Do not resize first, because stretching distorts the face and gets the photo rejected.
How do I reduce a passport photo to under 240 KB?
Export as JPEG from Preview and move the Quality slider down until the file is under the limit, then check size in Finder with Get Info. A smaller pixel size also helps, down to 600 x 600. Keep quality as high as the limit allows, since artifacts can fail the check.
Can I use an iPhone photo for a passport?
It can work if it meets the rules for lighting, background and head position. iPhone photos are often HEIC, so export or convert to JPEG first. Our guide on HEIC to JPG on Mac covers it. Resize to the allowed pixel range and check the size before uploading.
Does Smol crop passport photos?
No, not to an area you choose. Its resize modes are fit, fill, width and height, and fill crops without letting you control what is cut. Crop in Preview first, then use Smol to compress the result if you need to meet a size limit. It does not check head position.
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