Canada Passport Photo Size: 50x70mm Rules and Online Renewal

By NexGama Studio · Updated October 27, 2026 · 2 min read

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Canadian passport photos are larger than in most countries — and they are not the same as US 2 × 2 inch photos, which is the most common reason Canadian applications are sent back. Here are the official rules for printed photos and for the digital photo used in online renewal.

Printed photo requirements

Requirement	Rule
Size	Exactly 50 mm wide × 70 mm high (2 × 2¾ inches)
Head size	31–36 mm from chin to crown (1¼ to 1⁷⁄₁₆ inches)
Number	2 identical, unaltered photos
Age	Taken no more than 6 months before you apply
Background	Plain white or light-coloured, clearly contrasting with your face
Expression	Neutral, eyes open and looking at the camera, mouth closed, no smile
Glasses	Allowed if your eyes are clearly visible with no glare; no sunglasses or tinted lenses

What goes on the back

The photographer writes or stamps the date taken and the studio’s name and full address on the back of one photo.
If your application needs a guarantor, they write “I certify this to be a true likeness of (your name)” and sign the same photo. Adult renewals do not need a guarantor.

Because of the stamp, Canadian passport photos are normally taken at a photo studio, pharmacy or retail store that offers passport photos, not printed at home.

Digital photo for online renewal

Requirement	Rule
Format	JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg)
Shape	Portrait, 3:2 ratio (height to width)
Pixels	At least 1,200 wide × 1,800 high; at most 3,000 × 4,500
File size	200 KB to 5 MB
Head size	45–50% of the photo’s height
Source	The original file from a commercial photographer, taken within 6 months — not a scan of a print

You also need to enter the studio’s name and address and the date the photo was taken.

Don’t edit the photo

Canada rejects altered photos. That includes changing colour or brightness, cropping, replacing the background and using AI tools. Ask the photographer for a digital file that already meets the online renewal specifications above, and upload it unchanged.

You can safely check a file without changing it: open it in the Image Resizer to see its exact width and height in pixels, then close it without downloading anything.

Canada vs US vs UK photo sizes

Country	Printed size	Head size
Canada	50 × 70 mm	31–36 mm
United States	51 × 51 mm (2 × 2 in)	25–35 mm
United Kingdom	35 × 45 mm	29–34 mm

Need to convert between millimetres and inches? The Unit Converter does it instantly. See our guides to the US passport photo and UK passport photo for those countries’ full rules.

Supporting documents

If you also need to send copies of documents, the Image to PDF tool combines photos of them into a single PDF on your phone or computer, without uploading them anywhere.

Rules can change, so check the photo page on Canada.ca before you apply.

Tools used in this guide

Unit ConverterLength, weight, temperature, volume, area, speed. Image ResizerSet exact width and height in pixels, with aspect lock. Image to PDFCombine JPG/PNG images into a single PDF.