Hong Kong Passport Photo: 40 × 50 mm, JPEG, 5 MB — and a 1200 × 1600 Pixel Floor
On this site the byte ceiling is usually the hard part. Hong Kong inverts that. The Immigration Department allows 5 MB — its own wording is "5MB or below" — which is twenty times what the US visa form takes and ten times Tanzania. The number that actually fails you here is pixels, because a photo taken with a digital camera must be "at least 1200 px (W) x 1600 px (H)", and a compressor reaches a byte target by throwing pixels away. So the order of operations reverses: fix the pixel floor first, compress until the file fits, then confirm the floor survived. Two further wrinkles are worth knowing before you start, and both come from reading the published numbers against each other rather than from anything the department says. The printed photo is 40 mm wide by 50 mm high, which is 4:5. The pixel minimum, 1200 by 1600, is 3:4. Those are different rectangles, so an image submitted at exactly the minimum loses roughly 6% of its height when it is cropped to the print shape. Separately, the page allows a 600 dpi scan of a 40 × 50 mm print, and that works out to 945 × 1181 px — under the camera floor entirely. Neither point is a rule the department wrote. Both are arithmetic on its own numbers, and both point the same way: give the file more pixels than the minimum, not exactly the minimum.
Hong Kong SAR passport photo requirements (official)
| Maximum file size | 5 MB — written as "5MB or below". It is the only byte figure anywhere on the page, and it is a ceiling |
|---|---|
| Minimum file size | None stated — no floor is given |
| File format | JPEG only, for both the internet application and the Immigration Department mobile app |
| Printed size | 40 mm (width) × 50 mm (height) — a 4:5 portrait, not the 35 × 45 mm that most passports in this set use |
| Chin to crown | 32 mm to 36 mm on a 50 mm tall photo, which is roughly 64%–72% of the height. "Sufficient headroom" above the crown is required but no figure is given |
| Pixel floor (digital camera) | At least 1200 px (W) × 1600 px (H). A floor, not a target — and it is a 3:4 shape, while the printed photo is 4:5 |
| Pixel floor (scanner) | A 600 dpi scan of a 40 × 50 mm print. Arithmetically that is 945 × 1181 px, below the camera floor of 1200 × 1600 |
| Pixel ceiling | None stated. There is no upper bound on resolution |
| Background | Plain white, stated on both the application page and the photo requirements page |
| Glasses | A frame across the eyes is a named rejection reason, and so is flash reflection on the face or glasses. No clear-lens allowance is written |
| Head covering | "Please do not wear head dress" — written without a religious exception, unlike Pakistan, Tanzania and Bhutan |
| Hair | Hair across the eyes or eyebrows is a rejection reason. Naming the eyebrows is unusual; most rules stop at the eyes |
| Exposure | Both "too light" and "too dark" are on the rejection list, alongside shadow. No other page in this set states an exposure rule |
| Framing | Full frontal face, clear facial features, centred in the frame |
| Make-up and clothing | Avoid heavy make-up, and avoid clothing that is overly dark or overly light against the white background |
| What happens to the image | It is laser-engraved onto the passport data page. The department states the quality of the engraved image depends on the quality and colour of the photograph supplied |
| Handling the print | Do not fold, staple, or write on the back, and do not attach it with a paper clip |
| If it does not comply | A postal or drop-in application with a substandard photo is not processed and is returned to the applicant |
| Upload is not approval | The department states that whether a successfully uploaded photo meets the requirements "has yet to be determined" |
Type the exact limit your form gave you. The tool searches for the highest quality that still fits under it.
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How to use
- Measure the file before touching it: JPEG, 5 MB or less, short edge at least 1200 px, long edge at least 1600 px. If it clears all four, upload it as it is — re-compressing only spends pixels.
- If it is over 5 MB, compress to 5120 KB. That is the published ceiling in kilobytes; the page writes it as "5MB or below".
- Keep the long edge above 1600 px while you compress. The tool lowers resolution to reach a byte target, so a file that hits 5 MB by dropping to 1400 px has traded one failure for another.
- Aim above the floor rather than at it. 1500 × 1875 px is the 4:5 shape the print actually uses, with pixels left over for the crop.
- Keep it JPEG. The page names JPEG for the internet application and the mobile app, and names no other format.
- Do not convert to greyscale and do not flatten the colour. The photo is laser-engraved onto the data page, and the department says the engraved image inherits the quality and colour of what you send.
- Do not upload a scan of a print that has been folded, stapled, written on, or paper-clipped. All four are named on the page, and the marks travel with the scan.
Frequently asked questions
Is 5 MB really the limit?
Yes, and it is the only byte figure on the page: "File size: 5MB or below". Read the scope too. The block it sits in is headed "Acceptable File Format of Digital Photograph Submitted through Internet and Mobile App of the Immigration Department (For passport application only)" — so it governs online passport applications, not the postal or drop-in route, where what you supply is a print. Against the rest of this set the ceiling is generous rather than strict: US visa 240 KB, Bangladesh 300 KB, Pakistan 350 KB, Tanzania 500 KB. Only Singapore at 8 MB sits in the same range.
What are the pixel requirements?
Two branches, and they do not agree. A digital camera capture must be "at least 1200 px (W) x 1600 px (H)". A scanner capture is described instead by resolution and print size: 600 dpi of a 40 × 50 mm photo. There is no upper bound at all, which puts Hong Kong opposite New Zealand (900–4500 px wide, 1200–6000 px high). The arithmetic is where it gets awkward, and this part is our reading, not their rule: 600 dpi over 40 × 50 mm is 945 × 1181 px, which is below the 1200 × 1600 floor the camera branch sets. And 1200 × 1600 is 3:4 while 40 × 50 mm is 4:5, so a file submitted at exactly the minimum is the wrong shape for the print. Submit something like 1500 × 1875 px and neither problem exists.
Can I scan a printed photo?
Hong Kong is the only rule on this site that names a scanning path at all. Ireland, Canada and New Zealand all refuse scans or printed copies outright; the Immigration Department instead publishes a scanner branch with a specific resolution, 600 dpi. That is a real allowance, not an oversight. The catch is the pixel arithmetic above — a 600 dpi scan of a 40 × 50 mm print lands at 945 × 1181 px, short of the 1200 × 1600 that a camera capture has to meet. If you are scanning, scan at a higher dpi so the result clears 1200 × 1600, or photograph the subject instead of the print.
Does a successful upload mean the photo was accepted?
No, and the page says so explicitly: "Whether the successfully uploaded photograph meets the requirements has yet to be determined." That is worth taking literally. The portal will not stop a non-compliant photo at the point of upload, so the rejection arrives later, in processing. There is no published online checker to run beforehand — unlike New Zealand, which offers one. For the postal or drop-in route the wording is blunter still: an application with a substandard photograph "will not be processed and will be returned to the applicant".
Can I wear glasses?
The rejection list names "wearing a frame across eyes", and separately names "flash reflection on face/glasses". Two distinct failures: the frame itself is disqualifying, and reflection is a second, independent way to fail even if the frame were acceptable. There is no clear-lens allowance of the kind Singapore writes, and no "if you regularly wear them" allowance of the kind Tanzania writes. Treat it as: take the photo without glasses.
Can I wear a head covering?
The page says "please do not wear head dress" and stops there. Unlike Pakistan, Tanzania and Bhutan, which permit a covering for religious reasons, this page writes no religious exception at all. That is unusual enough to state plainly instead of softening: as published, the rule is no head covering. If a covering is required for religious reasons, the Immigration Department is the only authority that can answer whether an exception applies, and this page does not answer it.
How large should the head be in the frame?
The measurement is chin to crown: 32 mm to 36 mm, on a photo that is 50 mm tall. That is 64%–72% of the height — a narrower and higher band than Canada (45%–50% of the height) and close to but not the same as the US visa rule (head 50%–69% of the image height). Do not confuse it with Pakistan or Bhutan, which specify 70%–80% of the whole frame by area. Height fraction and area fraction are different measurements and produce visibly different crops. "Sufficient headroom" above the crown is also required, with no figure attached, which is why aiming mid-band at about 34 mm leaves room on both sides.
What background colour is required?
Plain white, and unlike several pages in this set it is stated in both places — the photo requirements page and the online application page. Because the background is white, the same page warns against clothing that is "overly dark or overly light"; a white shirt disappears into the background and a black one produces the hard edge the shadow rule is trying to avoid. Mid-tone clothing is the safe choice.
What exactly gets a photo rejected?
The page lists eight named failures: not centred; wearing a frame across eyes; hair across eyes or eyebrows; flash reflection on face or glasses; with shadow; too light; too dark. Add the separate instructions — no head dress, no heavy make-up, avoid overly dark or overly light clothing — and the pattern is clear: this is a list about photographic technique, not about file properties. Six of the eight are decided when the shutter is pressed and cannot be fixed by any amount of compression afterwards.
Why 40 × 50 mm and not 35 × 45 mm?
Because Hong Kong sets its own size, and 40 × 50 mm is a 4:5 portrait — the only 4:5 page in this set. UK, Ireland, India, Tanzania, Pakistan and Bangladesh all use 35 × 45 mm (7:9), Canada and New Zealand use 3:4, the US visa form is 2 × 2 in. A photo prepared for any of those is the wrong shape here, and cropping one to 4:5 cuts into the headroom the same page requires. Start from the original capture if you still have it.
Is my photo uploaded to a server?
No. The compression runs in your browser and the file never leaves your device. That matters more than usual for this document: the same image is laser-engraved onto your passport data page, so it is both an identity photo and the artwork for a travel document. You can confirm the behaviour yourself in the browser network panel — the only requests are for the page itself.