French Passport Photo Size & Requirements

If you're applying for a French passport, whether at a mairie in France or a consulate abroad, the photo has to match one specific, legally defined format: 35x45mm, with your face height measured chin-to-crown at 32-36mm. That's roughly 1.38 by 1.77 inches if you're used to imperial units, and it lines up exactly with the UK and Schengen visa photo specs, so if you've already taken one of those you're most of the way there.

Where French passport photo requirements diverge from almost every other country's is the background colour. A neutral expression, closed mouth, bare head, and both eyes visible are all standard biometric-photo rules you'll recognise from elsewhere. The background rule isn't standard at all, and it's the single most common reason French passport photo applications get sent back for a redo.

Most countries either require white or simply accept it alongside other light colours. France does the opposite: the Arrêté du 5 février 2009, the actual regulation ANTS and mairie staff check applications against, states plainly that "le blanc est interdit" — white is forbidden. Use a plain light grey or light blue background instead.

Confirmed directly against the regulation's text on Légifrance, the official French government legal-text repository. This tool's background-swap feature defaults to a compliant light grey for France, so a photo taken against a white wall still ends up with the right background once cropped.

It's worth flagging because it catches people out constantly: someone renews their French passport using the same photo booth or backdrop they used for a US visa, a driving licence, or a school ID, all of which are usually fine with plain white, and the French application comes back rejected. If you're taking your own photo at home against a white wall, either move to a grey or pale blue wall instead, or upload it here and let the background swap fix it for you.

The official French passport photo size is 35mm wide by 45mm tall, which converts to about 3.5 x 4.5cm, or roughly 1.38 x 1.77 inches. Your face height, measured from the bottom of your chin to the top of your head (not the top of your hair), needs to land between 32mm and 36mm, around 70-80% of the frame.

For a digital upload through the ANTS online pre-application, the reported minimum is 413x531 pixels at 300 DPI, with 826x1063 pixels at 600 DPI recommended for a sharper result. This tool exports your cropped photo at 630x810 pixels by default, which comfortably clears both figures whether you're uploading digitally or printing a physical copy for your in-person appointment.

Yes. Unlike Germany, which banned self-submitted passport photos entirely in 2025, France still lets you supply your own: upload a digital photo during your online ANTS pre-application, or bring a printed copy to your in-person mairie or préfecture appointment, which you'll need anyway for fingerprint enrolment. Crop yours to spec with the tool above first, either way.

That also means you don't need to book a professional photo booth or studio purely to get a compliant French passport photo. A recent, sharp, well-lit photo taken on a phone against a plain grey or light blue wall, then cropped here to the exact 35x45mm guide, will meet the same standard a photo booth print does. Save the studio trip for situations where you specifically want a physical copy in hand.

The physical size and head-height figures are identical to the Schengen visa spec — 35×45mm, 32-36mm head height — since France's own biometric standard is ICAO-aligned like every other member state's. The difference is the background rule: France's white ban is a specific, legally codified requirement for its own passport and ID card, stricter than the general Schengen guidance.

If you're applying for a Schengen visa rather than a French national passport, see theSchengen visa photo page for that spec.

You don't need a specific "agréé" photographer for a French passport, unlike some other countries' schemes, but plenty of applicants still look for a photo booth or studio near their mairie, préfecture, or consulate out of habit. If you're outside France, most consulates list a recommended photographer on their own site, though using one isn't mandatory.

A word of caution if you're in the US and thinking of using a pharmacy photo counter: CVS, Walgreens, Costco, and Walmart print to the American 2x2 inch passport photo standard with a plain white background by default, not the French 35x45mm, no-white-background format. Staff there aren't necessarily briefed on France's specific rules, so a print from one of those counters can come back the wrong size and the wrong background colour in one go. The safer, faster route for most people is to take a photo yourself and crop it to the correct French spec with the tool on this page, then either upload it directly to ANTS or print it at any photo lab once it's already sized and coloured correctly.