How to Print Passport-Size Photos at Home on 4 × 6 or A4 Paper

A form, a college admission or an ID card needs a few passport-size photos, and you do not want a trip to the studio. A phone photo and a home printer can do the job, as long as the photos come out at the right physical size. This guide shows how to make the print sheet, which printer settings matter and how to check the result.

The quick way: a print sheet in five steps

1. Open the Passport-Size Photo Maker and add a clear, front-facing photo (JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 20 MB).
2. Under Photo size, choose the size your form asks for: 35 × 45 mm, 2 × 2 inches or Custom millimetres.
3. Drag the crop box to frame the face, and use its handles to make it bigger or smaller.
4. Under Print sheet, choose 4 × 6 inch or A4, set the number of Copies, and choose a Sheet download of JPG (300 DPI) or PDF (exact size). Press Download print sheet.
5. Print the sheet at 100% or Actual size, then cut along the marks.

The photo stays on your device the whole time. Cropping and the print sheet are made by your browser, and nothing is uploaded.

First, check which size you need

The two built-in sizes are not interchangeable. 35 × 45 mm is a rectangle and is commonly requested for Indian application forms and some visa photos. 2 × 2 inches is a square of about 51 × 51 mm and is commonly used for US documents.

Requirements differ by country, document and issuing office, and they change. Before printing, read the current instructions on the form or the issuer's website. If they give a different size, use Custom millimetres and enter it (any width and height from 10 to 100 mm).

One case where you need no prints at all: for an Indian passport applied for in India, the applicant is photographed at the Passport Seva Kendra.

How many photos fit on one sheet

The settings panel tells you how many copies fit on the paper you chose, with a small margin and a gap between photos for cutting:

For a custom size, the panel shows the number as soon as you enter it. If you type more copies than fit, the number is brought down to the maximum.

4 × 6 inch photo paper is a standard size, often sold as 4R. It suits a home photo printer and photo shops. A4 is useful when you need many copies at once, or when your printer has no photo-paper tray.

JPG or PDF: which sheet to download

Both are made at 300 DPI, so each photo has enough pixels to print sharply. A 35 × 45 mm photo is 413 × 531 pixels, a 4 × 6 inch sheet is 1200 × 1800 pixels and an A4 sheet is 2480 × 3508 pixels.

• PDF (exact size) places every photo at its millimetre size on the page. It is the safer choice when you print from a computer, because PDF viewers keep physical sizes when the scale is set to 100%.
• JPG (300 DPI) is a single image of the whole sheet. It is handy for a photo shop or a phone printing app. Ask the shop to print it as a 4 × 6 print without cropping or resizing.

If you need one digital photo instead, for example to upload with an online form, press Download one JPG. Portals often set a KB limit too; the Image Compressor can bring the file down to it.

Printer settings that keep the size exact

If a home print comes out the wrong size, look at the print dialog first. Before you press Print:

• Scale: choose 100%, Actual size or Scale: 100, whatever your printer calls it. Do not choose Fit to page, Shrink to fit or Fill page: they scale the whole sheet, and every photo changes size with it.
• Paper size: select the paper you actually loaded, 4 × 6 inch or A4. A mismatch can make the printer scale or shift the page.
• Borders: print with borders. Borderless mode on many inkjet printers enlarges the page slightly so no white edge is left, which enlarges the photos too. The sheet already has a margin, so nothing is lost.
• Quality: choose the photo or high-quality setting and the paper type you are using, such as glossy photo paper.

Check the size with a ruler before cutting

Print one sheet on plain paper first; it costs much less than photo paper. Measure one photo with a ruler: a 35 × 45 mm photo should be 35 mm wide and 45 mm high. If it is 33 mm or 37 mm, a scaling setting is still on. Fix it, then print on photo paper.

Cut along the cut marks printed next to each photo. A paper trimmer or a steel ruler with a sharp blade gives straighter edges than scissors.

Taking a photo that crops well

The tool crops and sizes your photo only. It does not change the background, and it does not check official rules for head size, eye position, expression or lighting. So start with a good photo:

• Stand in front of a plain, light wall, a step or two away from it, so you cast no shadow on it.
• Face a window or other even light, so neither side of your face is darker.
• Ask someone to hold the phone at your eye level, straight on, and to leave space above your head and below your shoulders. The crop box needs room to move.
• Use the phone's normal camera at full resolution, not a selfie filter or a screenshot.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my print slightly bigger or smaller than the preview?

Almost always because of a scaling option in the print dialog, such as Fit to page or borderless printing. Set the scale to 100% and print with borders.

Can I put two different sizes on one sheet?

No. A sheet repeats one photo at one size. Make a second sheet for the other size.

Can I take the JPG sheet to a photo shop?

Yes. The 4 × 6 inch sheet is 1200 × 1800 pixels, the same shape as a 4 × 6 print, so nothing needs to be cut off to fit. Tell the shop it must be printed at actual size with no cropping, and measure one photo before you leave.

Wrapping up

Printing passport-size photos at home comes down to three things: choose the size your form asks for, download a sheet from the Passport-Size Photo Maker, and print it at 100% with borders. Measure one photo on a plain-paper test print, then use photo paper. For more photo tools, see the image tools section.