Schengen Visa Photo File Size
Direct answer: Honestly: there is no single Schengen photo file size. The European Commission's official specification is a physical one — a colour photo 35–40 mm wide, your face taking up 70–80% of it, taken within the last 6 months, meeting ICAO standards. For digital uploads, each consulate and application centre sets its own KB and pixel limits, and they genuinely vary by destination country. Enter the limit from your own centre's instructions into the tool below — we will not print a borrowed number as if it were the rule.
🔒 Your file is processed entirely in your browser. It is never uploaded to a server — there is no server.
The specification
| Document | Size window | Dimensions | Format | Official source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schengen visa — Photograph | Physical ICAO spec (verified): colour photo, 35–40 mm wide, face taking up 70–80% of the photo, taken within the last 6 months. No EU-wide digital KB or pixel values exist — upload limits are set by each consulate/application centre and vary. Use the tool below in manual mode with the KB limit printed in your own application centre's instructions. We never print a number we have not read in an official source. | ||||
Why this page refuses to give you a number: we checked the official EU source (the European Commission's Schengen visa pages and its linked ICAO Photograph Guidelines). The Commission itself opens with the warning that its page is a general overview and details sit with the embassy or consulate of your destination country. Sites that print one confident "Schengen photo size in KB" are quoting one centre, one aggregator, or nothing at all.
What is fixed across the Schengen area is the photograph standard: colour, 35–40 mm in width (consulates commonly operationalise this as 35 × 45 mm), close-up of head and shoulders with the face at 70–80% of the frame, sharp focus, even lighting, no more than 6 months old. Meet that first — a dimensionally perfect file of a non-compliant photo is still a refusal.
For the digital step: open the instructions of the centre where you will actually submit (embassy, consulate, or their appointed application centre), find its stated KB and pixel limits, and type them into the tool. The window mode handles a min–max range; the ceiling mode handles a simple maximum.
Resize to this spec
Questions
What is the Schengen visa photo size in KB?
There is no EU-wide value. The European Commission publishes the physical ICAO photo specification, not a file size; digital upload limits are set by each consulate or application centre and vary by destination country.
What are the Schengen photo dimensions?
Physically: 35–40 mm wide, face occupying 70–80% of the photograph, taken within the last 6 months, per the Commission's ICAO Photograph Guidelines. Consulates commonly use 35 × 45 mm prints.
Where did you get this?
From "Applying for a Schengen visa" and the linked ICAO Photograph Guidelines on home-affairs.ec.europa.eu (European Commission), read directly and checked on 2026-11-08.
How do I find my centre's KB limit?
On the document checklist or photo guidance page of the embassy, consulate or application centre handling your application — it is usually stated next to the upload button or in the appointment confirmation instructions.
Rejected anyway? Work through why portals reject files — the cause is usually the 1,000-vs-1,024 KB counting trap or dimensions, not the file size alone. See also all portal presets and how KBExact works.