China Visa Photo: 40–120 KB Is a Band, Not a Ceiling
Every other page in this set gives you a ceiling: get under the number and you are done. China gives you a band — JPEG, 40 KB to 120 KB — and that changes what the tool is for. Compressing harder stops being automatically safe, because a file that lands at 30 KB is as far outside the rule as one that lands at 200 KB. The band is also the tightest here by a wide margin. The top is three times the bottom; the UK allows 50 KB to 10 MB, New Zealand 250 KB to 5 MB, Canada 200 KB to 5 MB. Two things follow. First, read the size the tool reports in both directions. It stops at the highest quality that fits under 120 KB, so it will not crush your file on purpose — but a source already at 354 × 472 has very little data to spend, and a JPEG that small can encode below 40 KB even at full quality. Second, the digital photo and the printed photo are not the same rectangle. The file is 354 × 472 to 420 × 560 px, exactly 3:4. The print is 33 mm by 48 mm, which is 11:16. The print is the narrower shape, so a print made from a compliant digital file is cropped at the sides. The same document also disagrees with itself twice, and both disagreements are worth knowing before you measure anything: the body text puts the face width at 205 px ± 14 px while its own diagram labels it 191–251 px, and the text gives 10–70 px of headroom where the diagram gives 10–85 px.
China visa photo requirements (official)
| File size | 40 KB – 120 KB. A closed band with two live ends, not a ceiling — and the tightest on this site: the top is only three times the bottom |
|---|---|
| File format | JPEG. No other format is named anywhere in the requirements |
| Digital dimensions | 354 px (W) × 472 px (H) minimum, 420 px (W) × 560 px (H) maximum. Both are exactly 3:4 |
| Colour | RGB 24-bit true colour; sRGB or a similar colour space is preferred |
| Printed size | 33 mm (W) × 48 mm (H) — an 11:16 portrait, which is a different rectangle from the 3:4 digital file |
| Head width, print | 15 mm to 22 mm, measured ear to ear, on a 33 mm wide print — 45%–67% of the width |
| Head height, print | 28 mm to 33 mm, measured from the base of the chin to the crown, on a 48 mm tall print — 58%–69% of the height |
| Face width, digital | 205 px ± 14 px (i.e. 191–219 px), stated against the 354 × 472 example. The sample-photo diagram in the same document labels the same measurement 191 pixels – 251 pixels |
| Top margin, digital | 10–70 px from the upper edge of the image to the crown, in the body text. The same diagram labels it 10 – 85 pixels |
| Eye line | The horizontal line through the centres of the eyes must sit more than 256 px above the bottom edge of the image |
| Inter-eye distance | More than 60 px between the pupils |
| Head tilt | No more than 20° left or right (yaw and roll), and no more than 25° up or down (pitch) |
| Background | White or close to white, with no border around the edge of the image |
| Expression | Neutral, eyes open, mouth closed, ears visible |
| Glasses | Allowed only if the lenses are not tinted, there is no glare or shadow on them, and the frames do not obscure the eyes. The embassy text version adds: not thick-rimmed |
| Head covering | Only for religious reasons, and only if it obscures no facial feature |
| Hair | Volume at the crown may be trimmed down to bring the head inside the size window — the requirement states this explicitly |
| Print stock | Glossy photo paper. Matte paper, plain paper, and any print with a stain, scratch or crease are refused |
| Print margins | Crown to top edge 3–5 mm; chin to bottom edge 7 mm |
| Age of photo | Taken within the last 6 months |
| Status of these numbers | Department of Consular Affairs infographic, in force from 1 December 2016. The 2025 online application system publishes no photo-spec page of its own |
Type the exact limit your form gave you. The tool searches for the highest quality that still fits under it.
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Target size: 120 KB
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How to use
- Measure the source before touching it: is it at least 354 × 472 px, and is it 3:4? If it is smaller, go back to the original camera file. No compressor adds pixels, and a source sitting at the minimum has almost nothing to spend against a 40 KB floor.
- Compress to 120 KB. That is the top of the published band, so it is the quality ceiling you want to sit under — not a number to beat.
- Read the reported size. Between 40 KB and 120 KB is a pass. Under 40 KB is a failure in the other direction, and running it through again will only make it worse.
- If it came out under 40 KB, swap in a larger original — 420 × 560 px is the maximum the form accepts, and it carries about 1.4× the pixels of the minimum. More pixels is the only lever that moves the output up.
- Keep it JPEG. The requirement names JPEG and no other format, so a WebP that fits the band is still the wrong file.
- Check the framing before you upload: face width 191–219 px, crown 10–70 px below the top edge, eye line more than 256 px above the bottom edge, pupils more than 60 px apart. Compression cannot repair any of these.
- If a print is also required, print at 33 × 48 mm on glossy photo paper with the head 15–22 mm wide and 28–33 mm chin to crown. The digital file is 3:4 and the print is 11:16, so do not assume one becomes the other without a crop.
Frequently asked questions
Is 40 KB really a minimum, or is it a typo?
It is printed as a range: "Image Compression: JPEG and the image file size: 40 KB - 120 KB." Both ends are written, and nothing nearby says "at least" or "up to", so read it as a closed interval. A 30 KB file is outside it in exactly the same way a 200 KB file is. Worth knowing where this number lives: the Chinese Embassy in Australia publishes the same requirement as plain text and gives the physical size, the head measurements, the tilt limits and the paper stock — but no byte figure at all. The infographic is the only place the band appears, which is why this page leans on it rather than on the text version.
Why does the byte band matter more here than on other documents?
Because this is the one document in this set where the tool's normal behaviour can work against you. Everywhere else the instruction is "get under X", and the tool is built to do exactly that. Here the instruction is "land between 40 and 120". The tool still finds the highest quality that fits under 120 KB, so it will not deliberately crush the file — but the ceiling is not the problem, the floor is. If your source is already at 354 × 472, there is very little image data to spend, and a JPEG at that size can encode below 40 KB even at full quality. Check the reported size, not just the fact that compression finished.
The result came out under 40 KB. What now?
Start from a bigger original. The band rewards pixels: at 420 × 560 you have about 1.4× the pixel count of 354 × 472, and the same visual quality then encodes to a larger file. If all you have is the small export, go back to the camera original or re-export at full resolution before compressing — shrinking then re-compressing only loses more. Note that this is the one direction the tool cannot help with: it has no way to inflate a file, and padding a JPEG to reach 40 KB is not something a compressor should do silently.
The digital file is 3:4 but the print is 11:16. Which do I prepare?
It depends on the route, and they are genuinely two different shapes. Applying online — the current route, which moved to visaforchina.cn when the online processing system launched on 31 March 2025 — the form takes the digital file: 354 × 472 to 420 × 560 px, exactly 3:4. If a printed photo is requested, it is 33 × 48 mm, which is 11:16. Do the arithmetic and the print is the narrower rectangle: 0.750 against 0.6875. So a print produced from a fully compliant digital file has to be cropped at the sides. Both shapes come from the same authority, which reads as two routes specified separately rather than one derived from the other — that last sentence is our reading, not their wording.
The head-width numbers disagree with each other. Which do I use?
Two figures, one document. The body text says the face width should be "205 pixels ± 14 pixels" against the 354 × 472 example, which is 191–219 px. The sample-photo diagram in the same document labels the same measurement "191 pixels - 251 pixels". The lower bounds agree at 191; the upper bounds do not, 219 against 251. The top margin has the same problem: text says 10–70 px, diagram says 10–85 px. Where a document contradicts itself, the intersection is the only place that satisfies both readings — 191–219 px face width and 10–70 px of headroom. Do not aim at the disputed upper end just because a diagram printed a bigger number.
Can I wear glasses?
Conditionally. Glasses are allowed only if the lenses are not tinted, there is no glare or shadow on them, and the frames do not obscure the eyes. The embassy text version of the same requirement is stricter on one point, refusing thick-rimmed glasses outright. That puts China in the middle of this set: looser than the US visa form and Vietnam, which allow no glasses at all, and tighter than Singapore, which only asks for clear lenses with visible frames. The practical translation is that thin frames and clean lenses pass, and anything with a tint, a reflection or a heavy rim does not.
Can I wear a head covering?
Only for religious reasons, and only if it does not obscure any facial feature. That is the same standard Pakistan, Tanzania and Bhutan use, and the opposite of Hong Kong, whose page says "please do not wear head dress" with no exception written at all. The phrase to notice is "any facial feature" — a covering that hides the hairline is fine, one that shadows the eyes or the jaw is not.
How exactly is the head size measured?
Differently for the two outputs, which is the part people miss. For the print it is two millimetres bands: head width ear to ear 15–22 mm, and head height from the base of the chin to the crown 28–33 mm. For the digital file it is anchored on the eyes instead: face width 205 px ± 14 px, the eye line more than 256 px above the bottom edge, and the pupils more than 60 px apart. Anchoring on the eye line is unusual — Hong Kong and most of this set anchor at the chin, Canada expresses head height as 45%–50% of the frame, the US visa form as 50%–69%, and Pakistan and Bhutan as 70%–80% of the whole frame by area. Those four are not interchangeable, and the inter-eye rule is the only one of its kind on this site.
Why does the paper stock matter so much?
Because China wants the exact opposite of Singapore. The requirement is "printed on glossy finish photo paper, but not on matte finish paper or plain paper", and it adds that the print must be free of stains, scratches and creases. Singapore requires matte or semi-matte stock and treats a reflective print as a fault. So a photo printed for a Singapore application is the wrong stock for a Chinese one, and vice versa. This is one of the few rules in the whole set that no amount of compression can touch.
Do the degree limits on head tilt actually matter?
They are unusual enough to be worth taking literally. The rule is no more than 20° left or right (yaw and roll) and no more than 25° up or down (pitch). Almost every other document here describes tilt in words — "head must not be tilted", "face the camera squarely" — and gives no figure. Twenty degrees is roughly the point where one ear starts to disappear behind the cheek, which is also the point where the "ears visible" rule breaks. The two rules reinforce each other, so if both ears are clearly visible you are almost certainly inside the tolerance.
My hair is very voluminous. Does that break the head-size rule?
The requirement anticipates this and permits a fix: "In special cases, when the hair is too high, the voluminous hair can be trimmed off to ensure the size of the face." That is an unusually direct instruction — most documents state the size band and leave you to work out what to do when your hair will not fit inside it. Trimming volume at the crown is not the same as retouching your face, which the same document forbids, and it is the only sanctioned edit it names.
Has any of this changed since the online system launched?
The written specification we can cite is the Department of Consular Affairs infographic, which the embassy notices put in force from 1 December 2016. In March 2025 the application route itself moved: the Chinese Embassy in the UK announced the China Online Visa Processing System would launch on 31 March 2025 and pointed applicants at visaforchina.cn. That site publishes no photo-specification page, and cova.mfa.gov.cn has been returning 502 on every attempt (last checked 25 October 2026). So the infographic is the only written rule that can be sourced, and it is what this page uses. If the upload form itself quotes a different number, believe the form — it is the thing that will actually reject you.
Is my photo uploaded to a server?
No. Compression runs in your browser and the file never leaves your device. You can confirm it in the network panel: the only requests are for the page itself. That is worth more here than usual, because a visa photo is a full-face identity image tied to a passport number, and the same picture ends up on a document that will be scanned at borders for a decade.