An illustration with sample files; your own files show their own results.
Before3 photos a portal would reject
Off-centre in the frame
Head far too small
Tilted, shadow behind
AfterThe same photos, ready to upload
US 2×2 in · 300 DPI
Schengen 35×45 mm
Straight and evenly lit
DS-160 Photo Checker: Test Your US Visa Photo Before You Upload
The US visa photo is a 2 × 2 inch square, 600 to 1200 pixels on each side, with the head filling roughly half to two-thirds of the frame against a plain white background. Common reasons a photo is returned are a head that is too small or too large, shadows on the background and a tilted head.
The checker above measures each of those rules on your photo, shows which pass, and crops it to 600 × 600 pixels with 300 DPI written into the JPEG. It checks against published rules but is not the State Department, so a pass is a good sign rather than a guarantee. It cannot fix a bad background or uneven lighting; those need a reshoot.
Checks a portrait against US DS-160 (2×2 in) and Schengen / ICAO 9303 (35×45 mm) rules — head size, pose, background and lighting — then auto-crops it to a print-ready JPEG at the right DPI. Everything is measured in your browser; the photo never leaves your device.
What it measures
Geometry: head height, eye line and centring against the standard’s allowed bands.
Head pose: roll, yaw and pitch from a weak-perspective POS solver; roll is also read from the eye line.
Background: colour uniformity (CIE76 ΔE*ab), brightness, patterns and cast shadows.
Lighting: left/right symmetry (SSIM) and specular hotspots.
Expression: eyes open and neutral mouth, measured from the face mesh and estimated when it is unavailable.
Face finder and limits
The face is found by Google’s MediaPipe Face Landmarker, run entirely in your browser. Its model (about 4 MB) and runtime load from this site once and are then cached; your photo is never sent anywhere, and the model only places points, it identifies no one. It also gives the eye and mouth ratios for the expression checks. Drag any point to fine-tune it. If the model can’t run on your device, you place the points by hand and the expression checks are advisory. This is a pre-submission check; the issuing authority makes the final decision.
Frequently asked questions
What are the DS-160 photo requirements?
A square image, 600 to 1200 pixels on each side, with the head about 50 to 69 percent of the frame from chin to crown, the eye line roughly 56 to 69 percent of the height up from the bottom, and a plain white or off-white background. The checker tests each of these, along with head pose and lighting.
What pixel size and DPI does the exported US photo have?
600 × 600 pixels, with 300 DPI written into the JPEG's header, which is the bottom of the allowed 600 to 1200 pixel range. The DPI is recorded in the file itself, not only implied by the pixel count.
Can this tool fix a US visa photo that fails the check?
Framing, yes: the auto-crop recentres the head and scales it to the required proportion. Background, lighting and expression problems have to be reshot, and the report tells you which rule is the blocker.
Does passing here guarantee the State Department will accept the photo?
No. The tool checks published rules locally, but it is not the issuing authority and a human reviewer or the official submission check has the final word. A pass means the measurable rules are met, which removes the most common causes of rejection.
Is my photo uploaded anywhere to be checked?
No. The whole check runs in your browser and the file is never uploaded. Previewing and checking need no account; an account is needed only to spend tokens when you download the result.
