Printer settings for passport photos: a walkthrough
Most wrong-size passport photos are not a photo problem but a dialog problem: the printer was allowed to scale the page. Every print sheet we render is laid out at 300 DPI with the photos at their exact legal size, so the only job of the print dialog is to change nothing. This walkthrough shows what to set on a computer, why phones are the hardest place to print from, and how to prove the result with a ruler.
The one setting that matters
Printers default to fitting the page onto the paper. 'Fit to page', 'shrink to fit' and 'fill page' all rescale the sheet, and a sheet scaled by even a few percent makes every photo on it illegal: a 35 x 45 mm photo on a sheet printed at 96 percent comes out 33.6 x 43.2 mm. The caption printed on our sheet says it in one line: print at 100% or Actual size, borderless OFF, on photo paper. Borderless mode is a scaling mode too; most drivers enlarge the page slightly so it bleeds over the paper edge.
Paper choice is a rule in its own right, not a quality preference. The State Department rejects plain-paper prints for the US passport, and HM Passport Office refuses glossy or textured paper for the printed UK photo because it causes haze and glare when scanned.
On a computer
Open the sheet file, the JPEG whose name contains 'sheet', in any image viewer and print from there. The wording differs by program, but every print dialog has the same three decisions hiding somewhere.
- 1.Set the paper size to the sheet you downloaded: 4 x 6 in, 5 x 7 in, A4 or US Letter. Printing a 4 x 6 sheet 'onto' A4 paper is fine only if scaling stays at 100 percent; the sheet then sits in the corner of the page.
- 2.Set scaling to 100% or Actual size. On Windows, untick any 'fit picture to frame' or 'shrink oversized pages' option; on a Mac, look for the Scale field and type 100.
- 3.Turn borderless printing off and pick the photo-paper media type so the printer uses its high-quality mode.
- 4.Print one copy, then measure the ruler line printed in the sheet's footer. It must be exactly 50 mm, or 2 inches on 4 x 6 and Letter sheets. Anything else means the page was scaled: find the option you missed and print again.
From a phone
Phone print dialogs often hide or omit the scale control, which is why so many of the wasted-paper stories in reviews of photo apps start with printing from the phone. If your phone's dialog shows no explicit 100 percent or Actual size option, do not gamble: move the file to a computer, or take it to a kiosk or lab instead. The where-to-print guide covers both routes in detail.
At a kiosk or lab counter
Order the sheet as a plain photo print at the sheet's own size and decline every offer the machine makes: no cropping, no 'fit to page', no auto-enhance or colour correction. Enhancement filters count as editing in countries such as Canada, whose rules for the Canadian passport list changes to colour, brightness, contrast or sharpness as grounds for rejection. The ruler check works at the counter too; measure before you leave the store.
Frequently asked questions
My printer has no 'Actual size' option. What now?
Look for a scale percentage and set it to 100, or a 'no scaling' choice. If the dialog only offers fit modes, print from a different program or a computer; the viewer's dialog, not the printer, usually adds the missing control.
Can I print on ordinary paper to test?
Yes, a plain-paper test print is a cheap way to check the ruler line before using photo paper. Just do not submit it: the US and UK authorities both refuse photos on plain office paper.
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