India Passport Photo — 35×45 mm

India runs on the ICAO 35×45 mm portrait with the face occupying 80–85% of the frame — reported as head height of roughly 36–38 mm, the tallest sizing requirement on this site. Applications filed for years on the older 51×51 mm square are reported to have moved fully to the 35×45 format for applications from September 2025; if you hold old square prints, treat them as expired stock and confirm the current format on passportindia.gov.in before spending on printing either size.

The background rule is absolute in a way other countries' are not: pure white. The UK's cream, Schengen's grey, even a warm off-white that would pass in Washington — all read as non-compliant in Indian processing. The CIELAB check on this page is tuned to that stricter window and will warn on backgrounds a US check would wave through. Glasses have been barred outright since 2020, expressions must be neutral, and the recency convention is six months.

Digital submission is its own gauntlet. The Passport Seva flow accepts a JPEG at 630×810 pixels — exactly the 35:45 ratio — within a byte ceiling (commonly 250 KB domestically, with embassies abroad frequently demanding 20–100 KB for their own portals). The exporter here produces that exact geometry and binary-searches the encoder into the byte window, reporting the achieved size instead of leaving you to a portal error message.

One caution worth stating plainly: Indian processing has reportedly begun flagging uploads whose backgrounds show signs of software replacement. Whether or not your office applies that check, the direction of travel is unambiguous across authorities — which is why this page, like every ID page here, measures your real background rather than painting a fake one. A wall, two metres of distance from it, and light from behind the camera beats any filter.