The photo at the exact size
A passport or ID photo is defined by its printed size, and a photo straight from your phone has no printed size at all: it is just thousands of pixels in the shape the camera chose. This tool cuts your picture to the proportion of the size you select and saves it with the exact number of pixels for that size at 300 DPI. A 2×2 inch photo, for example, comes out at 600 by 600 pixels, with the 300 DPI value written into the file so that print software knows how big it should be.
The preset sizes are 2×2 in (5.1 cm, the US passport and visa size), 3.5×4.5 cm, 3×4 cm, 2.5×3 cm, 4×4 cm, 3.5×5 cm and 5×7 cm. If your form asks for something else, enter the width and height in millimeters.
A sheet of copies with cut marks
Applications often ask for two or more identical prints. Besides the single photo, you can download a sheet with the photo repeated and fine cut marks around each copy. There are three sheets: 10×15 cm, the small format usually sold as a 4×6 inch photo print, as a JPG or a PDF; and A4 or Letter as a PDF for a home or office printer.
The 10×15 cm JPG is the one to take to a photo kiosk or a pharmacy print counter, since those machines expect image files. The A4 and Letter PDFs suit a color printer you have access to, ideally loaded with photo paper.
Print at 100%, or the size will be wrong
This is the step that goes wrong most often. The sheet only gives photos of the correct size if it is printed at actual size. In the print dialog choose “Actual size” or a scale of 100%, and turn off “Fit to page”, “Shrink to fit” and borderless enlarging. At a kiosk, pick the option that does not crop or zoom the picture.
After printing, check one copy with a ruler before cutting them all. If a 2-inch photo measures less than 2 inches, the printer scaled the sheet: print it again at 100%.
What it does not do
The tool sizes and arranges your photo. It does not change or whiten the background, it does not retouch your face, and it does not check official requirements such as background color, expression, glasses or how much of the picture your head must fill. Whoever receives the photo decides whether it is acceptable.
Rules differ between countries and between documents, and they change. Read the current instructions from the office you are applying to before you take the picture, and take it accordingly: against the wall they ask for, with even light and no shadows, from far enough away that there is room to frame.
Your photo stays on your device
A face photo for an identity document is about as personal as files get. Here the cropping, the sizing and the print sheet are all produced in your browser: the picture is not uploaded and no copy is kept. It is free, with no account, no watermark and no limit on how many photos you make, on a phone or a computer.