2x2 Photo Maker: Make a 2 Inch by 2 Inch Photo Online

A 2x2 photo is a square photo 2 inches wide by 2 inches tall. It's the size the United States uses for passports, visas, green cards and other immigration documents. Upload a picture above and the 2x2 photo maker crops it to 2 × 2 inches with your head at the correct size.

Create Your 2x2 Picture in Three Clicks

1. Keep "United States" selected. It produces a square 600 × 600 pixel photo, which prints at exactly 2 × 2 inches.
2. Upload a photo. Use a recent, front-facing photo taken in even light against a plain white or off-white wall. Your browser re-saves it before uploading, which also removes hidden metadata such as GPS location. Processing can take up to a minute.
3. Download your photo. Your result opens on its own page with your head height and position measured, so you can check the crop before you print or upload it.

The photo is uploaded over an encrypted connection, because face detection and background checks run on a server. Your result page expires after 7 days; the privacy policy explains what is stored.

What Is a 2x2 Photo Used For?

The 2 × 2 inch format is mainly a U.S. standard. Outside the U.S., most countries use smaller, rectangular photos.

Documents That Require a 2 by 2 Inch Photo

• U.S. passport book and passport card, whether you apply in person or renew by mail.
• U.S. visas. Printed photos for immigrant visa interviews must be 2 × 2 inches, and digital photos for online forms must be square.
• Green card applications and many other USCIS forms. The Form I-485 instructions, for example, ask for two identical 2 × 2 inch color photos. USCIS sets its own rules on how recent the photos must be, so read your form's instructions.
• Naturalization, for some applicants who live outside the U.S. (Form N-400).

Documents That Use a Different Photo Size

A 2x2 photo won't work for these documents, so choose the right country in the passport photo editor instead:

Some other countries' visas and IDs do use a square 51 × 51 mm photo. Always check the official requirements for your document.

2x2 Photo Size in Inches, Millimeters and Pixels

Converting 2 Inches to 51 mm and 600 Pixels

One inch is 25.4 mm, so 2 inches is 50.8 mm, which official guidance rounds to 51 mm. Pixels depend on print resolution: at 300 dots per inch (DPI), the standard for photo printing, 2 inches is 2 × 300 = 600 pixels. A 600 × 600 file printed at 300 DPI comes out at exactly 2 × 2 inches. A larger square file, such as 1200 × 1200, prints at the same size if your printer scales it to 2 inches.

Correct Head Height Inside a 2x2 Frame

For U.S. passports, visas and green cards, your head must measure 1 to 1⅜ inches (25–35 mm) from the bottom of your chin to the top of your hair. In a 600 × 600 pixel photo, that's roughly 300 to 413 pixels, or 50–69% of the photo's height. Your face must be centered and looking straight at the camera.

Head size is the most common problem in home photos. Stand too close to the camera and your head is too big; stand too far back and it's too small. The photo maker measures your head and crops to fit this range.

Printing 2x2 Photos on a 4x6 Sheet

The photo maker downloads a single 600 × 600 pixel photo. To print it cheaply, place copies on a 4 × 6 inch canvas in any photo editor, then order a standard 4 × 6 print at a pharmacy or print shop, or print it at home on photo paper.

Whichever you choose, print at actual size with no scaling ("fit to page" changes the dimensions). Use matte or glossy photo-quality paper, and measure one printed photo with a ruler before you cut: it must be exactly 2 inches on each side.

How Many 2x2 Photos Fit on One 4x6 Print

A 4 × 6 inch print holds six 2x2 photos in a grid two across and three down, because 4 ÷ 2 = 2 and 6 ÷ 2 = 3. With six photos there's no space between them, and the outer photos run to the edge of the paper, where a printer can trim them. Most applications need one or two photos, so a sheet with two photos and wide margins is easier to print and cut. Our guide to printing passport photos gives exact layouts for two, four and six photos.

Common 2x2 Photo Mistakes That Cause Rejection

• Wrong head size. The head is outside the 1 to 1⅜ inch range, usually because the photo was taken too close.
• Scaled printing. The print came out at 1.9 or 2.1 inches because "fit to page" was on.
• Shadows on your face or on the wall behind you. Face a window with indirect daylight instead of standing under a ceiling light.
• Glasses. U.S. passport photos don't allow them, except for a medical reason with a doctor's signed statement.
• Edited photos. Filters, skin smoothing and AI changes are not accepted. Cropping and resizing are fine.
• An old photo. U.S. passport and visa photos must have been taken within the last six months.
• A non-square digital file. Online visa forms reject photos that aren't square or are outside the allowed pixel range.

Our passport photo requirements checklist covers every rule in detail.