Vietnam e-Visa Photo: Meet the 2 MB Rule on Both Images
Vietnam is the odd one out among visa portals: you upload two images, not one. The first is a 4 × 6 cm portrait of you. The second is a photograph of your passport data page — and the portal does not just store it, it reads it. The system pulls your name, passport number and dates straight off the image and fills the form in for you. That changes what "good enough" means: a passport image that is too dark, too small or too tightly cropped fails the automatic check, and the portal will not let you submit at all. Both files must be under 2 MB, in JPG or JPEG. No pixel size is published — only the physical 4 × 6 cm — so compress the file rather than shrinking the image.
Vietnam e-Visa photo requirements (official)
| Portrait — physical size | 4 × 6 cm (no pixel size is published) |
|---|---|
| Portrait — maximum file size | Under 2 MB — the guide says "less than 2MB" |
| Portrait — format | JPG or JPEG only |
| Portrait — background | White |
| Portrait — face | Front-facing, looking straight at the camera |
| Portrait — glasses | Not allowed |
| Portrait — headwear | No hat |
| Portrait — clothing | Formal attire |
| Portrait — recency | Must be a recent photo |
| Second image — required | A photo of your passport data page (biometric passport); both images are mandatory |
| What the portal does with it | Reads the passport automatically and fills in your details; if the passport image is invalid, submission is blocked |
| Automatic checks on the portrait | No face / face not looking straight / more than one face / not a live capture / resolution too low |
| Cross-check | The portrait and the passport photo are compared; a low match rate is flagged as a rejection risk |
| Form text vs validator | One in-form tooltip still says ≤ 10 MB, but the guide and the upload validator both say under 2 MB — use 2 MB |
Drop an image here, or click to browse
JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF or BMP · one image at a time
Target size: 1.9 MB
Your image never leaves your device — all compression happens locally in your browser.
Compressing… this can take a few seconds for large images.
Original size
Final size
Format / Quality
Dimensions
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How to use
- Read the table first — the second upload, the passport data page, is what most applicants miss.
- Photograph the data page flat and in even light, with all four corners and the two-line code at the bottom fully in frame.
- Compress both images here, one at a time. The target is pre-set to 1.9 MB to leave margin.
- Check the output format is JPG or JPEG — the tool prefers WebP, which the portal refuses.
- Do not resize the images down to reach the limit; the portal runs its own resolution check.
- Upload both to the e-Visa form and wait for the automatic verification to fill in your details.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Vietnam want two images?
Because the portal reads your passport instead of asking you to type it. You upload a portrait plus a photo of the passport data page; the system checks both, extracts your name, passport number and dates from the machine-readable zone, and pre-fills the form. If it cannot read the passport image the application stops there — the guide states plainly that an invalid passport photo blocks submission, so you cannot fall back on typing the details in by hand.
What size must the portrait be?
The guide states 4 × 6 cm — a physical print size, not a pixel count. The portal publishes no pixel dimensions and instead runs its own resolution check. That is why shrinking the image to fit the 2 MB limit is a bad trade: you can pass the size check and still be told the photo does not meet the required resolution. Compress the file and leave the dimensions alone.
One part of the form says 10 MB. Which figure is right?
Use 2 MB. The guide says the file must be less than 2 MB, and the upload validator rejects anything above 2 MB. A tooltip inside the application form still shows 10 MB, which looks like a stale string that was never updated. Aiming at 2 MB is safe under either reading; aiming at 10 MB is not.
The tool produced a WebP. Does that matter?
Yes — the portal accepts JPG or JPEG only. The compressor prefers WebP because it reaches a tight ceiling at better quality, so if the result comes back as WebP, run it through the image converter, choose JPEG, and check the size again. JPEG is larger at the same quality, so a file that only just fitted can creep back over the limit.
What gets the portrait rejected?
The portal runs several automatic checks on the portrait and reports which one failed: no face detected, face not looking straight, more than one face in the frame, a photo captured from another source — meaning a photo of an existing photo rather than a live shot — or resolution below what it requires. Glasses are not allowed in any form, hats are not allowed, and the background must be white. The portrait is also compared against the passport photo, and a low match rate is flagged as a rejection risk.
Should I scan the passport page or photograph it?
Either, as long as the portal can read it. What matters is that the two-line machine-readable zone along the bottom of the data page is sharp, complete and not cut off, and that the entire page is in frame. Otherwise the system reports that it detected no MRZ or no face in the passport image and will not continue. Place the passport on a flat surface and shoot straight down instead of holding it at an angle.
Are the images uploaded to a server?
Not by this tool. Compression happens entirely in your browser and the files stay on your device — worth checking in the network panel yourself, because a passport data page is an identity document. The e-Visa portal itself, once you submit there, obviously does receive them.