Sukat · Passport photo · Philippines

Passport photo size in the Philippines

The Philippine passport photo is 35 × 45 mm on a plain white background — the ICAO size the DFA and consular portals expect. A photo straight off the camera roll is too large and wrongly cropped for those uploads. Sukat crops to the ratio, replaces the background with clean white, and compresses to the exact KB a portal demands, entirely in your browser. No upload, no signup, no watermark.

Compress passport photo →
Last reviewed: July 2026
The spec

Philippine passport photo requirements

The current DFA / ICAO 9303 standard, plus the file rules portals apply to digital uploads. Set the matching ceiling in Sukat and it hits it exactly.

The DFA captures your passport photo on-site. For a new or renewed ePassport at a DFA office in the Philippines, staff take the photo during your appointment — you don't submit your own. The spec below matters when you need a compliant photo for a consulate abroad, a visa application, or another Philippine document that still asks for one. Always cross-check the official portal (passport.gov.ph) before submitting.
Photo size
35 × 45 mm (3.5 × 4.5 cm) — about 1.38 × 1.77 in
Head height
32–36 mm chin to crown; face fills ~70–80% of the frame
Background
Plain white, evenly lit, no shadows (the old blue spec is retired)
Expression
Neutral, mouth closed, both eyes open, looking straight ahead
Glasses
Not allowed — remove all eyewear, including prescription glasses
File format
JPEG for digital uploads and portal submissions
Resolution
Sharp, high-resolution; ≥ 480 × 640 px for consular digital uploads
File size
Commonly under 300 KB for online portals (confirm each portal's ceiling)
How to

Compress a Philippine passport photo

Crop to the 35 × 45 mm ratio, fix the background to white if needed, then hit the portal's KB ceiling — one workflow.

Upload your photo

Drop a JPG, PNG, HEIC, or WebP onto Sukat's drop zone. An iPhone HEIC works directly — there's no need to convert it to JPG first.

Crop to 35 × 45 mm and set a white background

Click Crop and match the 35 × 45 mm ratio (free crop with the dimension hint). If the background is busy, click Remove Background — Sukat segments the subject in-browser with a local AI model and opens a colour picker. Pick white.

Set the KB target and download

Choose JPEG and type the portal's ceiling — 300 KB for most Philippine and consular uploads — into Maximum File Size. Click Convert & Download. Sukat binary-searches for the highest quality that fits.

Use cases

When you need a Philippine passport-spec photo

The 35 × 45 mm frame is reused well beyond the passport itself.

Passport renewal abroad

OFWs and Filipinos renewing at a Philippine embassy or consulate typically bring two printed 35 × 45 mm photos on plain white.

Visa applications

Most embassy portals share the 35 × 45 mm spec. The United States is the main exception, at 2 × 2 inch.

PhilSys and government IDs

The national ID, LTO driver's licence, voter registration and similar forms reuse the passport-size standard.

NBI clearance and records

Clearances and printouts often ask for a passport-size or 2 × 2 headshot on a plain background.

Board and civil-service exams

PRC, CSC and agency portals accept the same neutral headshot format for online applications.

School and scholarship forms

Admissions, enrollment, and scholarship applications commonly request a passport-size photo.

OFW processing

OWWA, DMW/POEA and recruitment agency paperwork frequently need printed passport photos.

Online banking and KYC

Banks and fintechs request a passport-style headshot for digital onboarding and verification.

Need the 2 × 2 inch size instead? See the Passport Photo 2×2 Inch page. Renewing at a consulate abroad, or applying for a Schengen, UK, or Canada visa? The 35×45mm page covers those portals too.

Why Sukat

Why Sukat for Philippine passport photos

Five things this tool gets right that most "passport photo online" sites get wrong.

Hits the KB ceiling exactly

Generic resizers ask for a quality percentage and let you guess. Sukat reverses that — set 300 KB, or whatever the portal demands, and the algorithm searches for the highest quality that fits. No bouncing off the upload because the file came out 312 KB instead of 300.

White background built in

A surprising share of rejections are background-related, not size-related. Sukat's Remove Background button runs an AI segmentation model in the browser, isolates the subject, then offers a colour picker to drop in the plain white the DFA and consular portals expect.

HEIC-aware for iPhone

Photos taken on an iPhone don't need converting from HEIC to JPG first — Sukat decodes them directly. Most online passport tools fail silently on HEIC input.

Privacy that matches an ID document

A passport photo is identity-grade. Sukat runs entirely in the browser — the photo never reaches a server, and there's no account or email. Switch to airplane mode after the page loads to verify.

Filipino interface

Sukat's UI is available in 10 languages, Filipino among them — most passport-photo tools are English-only.

Questions

FAQ

What is the passport photo size in the Philippines?
The standard is 35 × 45 mm (3.5 × 4.5 cm) — the ICAO-compliant size the DFA uses for the ePassport. The face should sit 32–36 mm from chin to crown and fill roughly 70–80% of the frame, on a plain white background.

Do I need to bring a printed photo to my DFA passport appointment?
No. For ePassport applications processed at DFA offices in the Philippines, staff capture the photo on-site during enrollment, so applicants don't submit their own. A compliant 35 × 45 mm photo is still needed for passport renewal at embassies and consulates abroad (usually two printed copies), for visa applications, and for many other documents.

Is the background white or blue?
Plain white for current DFA ePassport applications. The older blue-background rule has been retired, though some studios still default to blue — ask for white unless a specific consulate says otherwise.

Is a Philippine passport photo the same as a 2×2 photo?
No. The passport photo is 35 × 45 mm. The 2 × 2 inch (51 × 51 mm) size Filipinos often need is a separate standard, used for US visas, some IDs, and school or agency forms. If you need that size, use the dedicated 2×2 inch page.

What file size should I target for online uploads?
Most Philippine and consular portals accept files under about 300 KB, but ceilings vary. Set the portal's exact limit in Sukat and it finds the highest quality that fits.

Can I wear glasses?
No. Eyewear — including prescription glasses — is no longer accepted, in line with ICAO biometric rules. Remove glasses before the photo.

Does Sukat upload my photo anywhere?
No. Cropping, background replacement, and compression all run in the browser via the Canvas API and an in-browser AI model. The photo never reaches a server — switch to airplane mode after the page loads and the conversion still works.

Does it work on an iPhone photo?
Yes. Drop the HEIC file straight in — Sukat decodes iPhone HEIC without converting to JPG first, then crops, sets a white background, and compresses to the target.
Related tools

Keep going

Passport Photo Compressor — The all-country tool — every portal's KB ceiling and pixel ratio.Passport Photo 35×45mm — Schengen, India, UK, Canada, Australia, PH, Japan — same 35×45 spec.Passport Photo 2×2 Inch — The US / DS-160 size Filipinos need for American visas and some IDs.Convert HEIC to JPG — Convert an iPhone photo before HEIC-averse portals.Crop and Compress — Crop to any ratio and hit a KB target in one pass.Image Size Guide — Full passport / ID / web file-size reference.

Get your Philippine passport photo to spec.

Free, in-browser, no upload, no watermark. Crop to 35 × 45 mm, set a white background, and hit the exact KB — one tool.

Compress passport photo →