Photo & Signature Size for Indian Government Forms: A Spec Cheat Sheet

Every Indian government portal publishes its own photo and signature specification, and no two agree exactly. This page collects the commonly published numbers in one table, gives you the conversion math once, and shows a single workflow that satisfies any of them. Specs are summarised from public notifications — portals revise limits between recruitment cycles, so always verify against the latest official advertisement before submitting.

The cheat sheet

Notice the pattern: 35 × 45 mm is the physical standard almost everywhere, and the file limits cluster around 20–50 KB for photos and 10–20 KB for signatures. If you keep compliant masters of both, you only ever need to re-export, never re-shoot.

The conversion math, once

pixels = millimetres ÷ 25.4 × DPI

35 × 45 mm @ 300 DPI = 413 × 531 px   (print-safe master)
35 × 45 mm @  96 DPI = 132 × 170 px   (screen uploads)
60 × 20 mm @ 300 DPI = 709 × 236 px   (signature master)
200 × 230 px @  96 DPI ≈ 53 × 61 mm   (portal pixel specs)

When a portal specifies pixels, it almost always means 96-DPI screen units — that is why “200 × 230 px” looks nothing like a millimetre spec. Keep 300 DPI masters and downscale; never upscale.

One workflow for any portal

1. Make the master photo. Passport Photo Maker — 35×45mm preset, white background fill, 300 DPI. Also exports an A4 cut sheet if you need printed copies.
2. Make the master signature. Signature Maker — draw or type, 60×20mm @ 300 DPI, trimmed, transparent.
3. Resize for the portal. Resize in mm/px — type the exact pixel target (e.g. 200 × 230) with aspect lock off if the portal demands those exact numbers.
4. Hit the KB limit. Compress to Exact Size — enter the portal’s number (30 KB, 50 KB) and get a file that lands under it and reports the final size honestly.
5. Strip EXIF before uploading. Strip EXIF removes camera and GPS data in one pass.

Every step runs in your browser — no account, no upload, no photo of you sitting on a file-sharing server. That matters more here than anywhere: these are identity documents in progress.

The rejection checklist

• File size over the stated KB limit — the most common failure by far.
• Wrong dimensions: a 2×2in US photo on a 35×45mm form, or vice versa.
• Blur — from low resolution or upscaling; always start from a 300 DPI source.
• Background not plain, or a visible border/shadow around the crop.
• Signature photographed at an angle, or strokes touching the box edge.
• Format mismatches: portal demands JPEG, you sent WebP or PNG.

Deeper dives: passport photo sizes by country, compressing photos under 50 KB, and the 60×20mm signature standard.