German passport photo size
A German passport photo is 45 mm high by 35 mm wide, portrait format with no border. That print is only accepted at a German mission abroad that cannot photograph you electronically. At a passport office in Germany the photo is taken there, so you cannot bring your own.
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What the authority specifies
- Photo size
- 45 mm by 35 mm
- Pixels at 300 DPI
- 413 x 531
- Background
- one colour, shadow free, contrasting with the face and hair
- File size
- No limit published
- Read at the source on
Each size on this page was read at the issuing authority's own website, not copied from another converter or from a search result.
The page it came from and the date it was read are printed above, so you can check the same source in one click.
Why this size?
Germany moved passport photographs to digital capture because editing software can blend two faces into one image, a trick known as morphing, and the Interior Ministry says altered photographs were later found in documents that had already been issued.
The law now routes the picture through the authority or a registered service provider rather than through the applicant.
Where the pixel figure comes from
Passport offices publish millimetres, not pixels, because the photograph is printed. Turning millimetres into pixels needs a resolution, and most authorities do not name one.
This one does not, so the pixel figure above is 300 DPI, the resolution print shops work to. The millimetre measurement is the requirement; the pixel figure is our arithmetic on top of it.
That matters if you are uploading rather than printing.
An online form usually states its own pixel size or file size limit, and where an authority publishes one this page uses that instead of converting anything.
Check before you submit
Requirements change, and the only version that counts is the one on the authority's own page on the day you apply.
Every size here links to the page it came from and shows the date it was read. If that date looks old, spend a minute at the source before you print anything.
What happens to your photo?
Your selected photo is processed in your browser, without an image upload to a server. The page may download code and codecs needed for editing.
Save your result before closing the tab; unsaved edits are kept in memory rather than in an online account.
Common questions
What size is a German passport photo?
The Passport Regulation gives 45 millimetres by 35 millimetres, in portrait format and without a border.
That size applies in one situation only: a passport applied for at a German mission abroad, where the mission cannot take the photograph electronically itself.
Can I bring my own photo to a German passport office?
No.
The Passport Act says the photograph is either produced electronically by a service provider and sent securely to the passport authority, or taken electronically by the authority itself if it has the equipment.
A print you made at home is not one of the two options.
What size is a German passport photo in pixels?
The regulation does not publish one. 413 by 531 is this tool's conversion of 45 by 35 millimetres at 300 DPI.
Where the photograph is captured electronically, the law points instead at the technical guideline TR-03121, which governs the equipment rather than a file you produce.
What background does a German passport photo need?
Annex 8 of the same regulation asks for a shadow free background in a single colour, contrasting clearly with both the face and the hair.
It does not name white, which is a real difference from most of the other countries on this site.
How much of the photo should the face fill?
Annex 8 states 70 to 80 percent of the photo's height, measured from the tip of the chin to the top of the head, with both halves of the face clearly visible.
For children the range is 50 to 80 percent, and up to the age of ten smaller deviations are allowed.
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