China visa photo size

China visa upload specifications

Values for the Chinese visa application digital photo, copied from Embassy of China in Costa Rica: Requisitos para la foto de Visa China (consular notice in Spanish, dated 29 November 2016), checked 31 October 2026; "not stated" means the source gives no figure for it.

China visa sizes in pixels and millimetres

Print sizes become pixels at a resolution (pixels = mm ÷ 25.4 × DPI); pixel sizes become print sizes the other way round. Computed for the China visa uploads at 200 and 300 DPI.

What the China visa KB limits mean in bytes

Estimated JPG file size for China visa uploads

Estimated from sizes measured with sharp 0.35.5 / libvips 8.18.7 on public-domain sample images (31 October 2026), interpolated to each target size. Your own scan can land 30-50% either side, which is why the tool measures the real file.

Will the China visa photo fit the limit?

China visa rejection checklist

Upload checks computed from the China visa specification; a file that fails any one of them is usually refused at upload or flagged later.

• Photo: File type is JPG/JPEG (a PNG or HEIC renamed to .jpg is still rejected).
• Photo: The China visa photo file is no larger than 120 KB (120,000 bytes is safe under both KB definitions).
• Photo: The China visa photo file is at least 40 KB (40,960 bytes or more); files under the minimum are rejected even when they look sharp.
• Photo: Pixel size is 354 × 472 to 420 × 560 px (the smallest and largest sizes accepted).
• Photo: Background: white, with no border.

How to resize your photo for China visa

1. 1

   Take or scan the photo

   Use a recent colour photo (background: white, with no border).

2. 2

   Load the preset

   Drop the file into the tool at the top of this page. The "China visa photo" preset is already set to 354 × 472 px (the form accepts 354 × 472 to 420 × 560 px) and 40 KB–120 KB, as JPG/JPEG.

3. 3

   Check the result

   Read the before and after sizes: the China visa photo must end between 40,960 and 120,000 bytes. If it ends under 40 KB, open "Fit, background and padding" and tick the option to pad a file that ends up below the minimum. Download it.

4. 4

   Upload and preview

   Upload the file on the China visa form and check the preview before you submit; verify the figures with the official notice first.

What the China visa source also says

• The notice is in Spanish and dated 29 November 2016; the embassy still publishes it on its website.
• Photo: Colour depth: 24-bit RGB true colour.
• Photo: On a 354 x 472 px photo the face is 205 px wide (plus or minus 14 px), the top of the head 10 to 70 px below the top edge and the eye line more than 256 px above the bottom edge.
• Photo: The distance between the eyes must be more than 60 px.
• Photo: A printed photo is 33 x 48 mm, with the head 15 to 22 mm wide and 28 to 33 mm from chin to crown.
• Photo: Glasses only without tinted lenses, glare or thick frames; hats only for religious reasons.

China visa compared with similar forms

Of these 5 forms, the China visa photo limit of 120 KB is the strictest; a file made for a stricter form usually passes a more generous one only if it also meets the minimum and the pixel size.

Where the China visa figures come from

Sources

1. Embassy of China in Costa Rica: Requisitos para la foto de Visa China (consular notice in Spanish, dated 29 November 2016), Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Costa Rica (consular notice), checked 31 October 2026: cr.china-embassy.gov.cn/esp/lsyw/aviso/202312/t20231220_1…
2. Measured by PixelFit with sharp 0.35.5 / libvips 8.18.7 on 31 October 2026, interpolated to each China visa target size, on this sample: head-and-shoulders portrait, Pete Souza (Official White House photo), public domain: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Barack_Obama.jpg