2x3 photo size: inches, cm, pixels, and how to make one

The 2x3 photo size means one of two things. In the US and on most photo print menus it usually means a 2 x 3 inch print (50.8 x 76.2 mm, often called wallet size). For ID photos in Indonesia and several other countries it is 2 x 3 cm (20 x 30 mm). Both have the same 2:3 shape.

A 2x3 inch print needs 600 x 900 pixels at 300 dpi, which is exactly what the 4:6 crop in the Dokurapi ID photo tool produces. A 2x3 cm photo needs only 236 x 354 pixels at 300 dpi.

This guide covers both versions in inches, cm, mm and pixels, how to tell which one a form or a print shop means, how 2x3 compares with 3x4 and 4x6, how to make a 2:3 photo in your browser without an app, how many fit on a 4x6 sheet, Letter or A4, and what file size to aim for when you upload. If you need a different format, the 3x4 photo size guide and the 4x6 photo size guide have the full tables.

2x3 photo size in inches, cm, mm and pixels

The numbers are always width first, then height, so a 2x3 photo is portrait. One inch is exactly 25.4 mm, which makes a 2 x 3 inch print 50.8 x 76.2 mm, or 51 x 76 mm rounded. A 2 x 3 cm photo is 20 x 30 mm, about 0.79 x 1.18 inches, roughly two and a half times smaller in each direction.

Wikipedia's table of photo print sizes lists the 2 x 3 inch format as Wallet, with a 3:2 ratio. It also lists an older wallet size of 2.5 x 3.5 inches, so if a print shop offers "wallets", check which of the two they mean before ordering.

Because both versions share the same shape, one well-cropped 2:3 image covers every case. You only change the size you print at, not the photo itself. That is the main idea of this guide: crop once to 2:3, then decide between inches and centimetres at the printer.

2x3 inch or 2x3 cm: which one do you need?

The unit is usually clear from where the request comes from. Families ordering wallet prints of school portraits, adding a photo to a small frame, or slipping one into a wallet almost always mean 2 x 3 inches. A form that asks for a "2x3 pas foto" or a "2 x 3 cm photo" for a student card, membership card or registration file means centimetres.

• Inches: wallet prints, gifts, keepsakes, small frames. Usually ordered in sets of four from a 4x6 inch sheet.
• Centimetres: small ID photos for cards and forms, often with a red or blue background, and often requested alongside 3x4 cm photos.

If the request gives no unit, look at the sample box on the form or measure the space where the photo is glued. A 2 x 3 cm box is only 2 cm wide; a 2 x 3 inch box is about 5 cm wide. When the form is online, ask whether they want a printed size at all, because many portals only check the digital file.

Official rules for ID photos, such as background colour, clothing and file size, always come from the organisation's own announcement and can change from year to year. Nothing in this guide replaces that announcement. For one documented portal example, see the SSCASN upload requirements.

How many pixels is a 2x3 photo?

Pixels have no physical size on their own. Print size appears only when you divide pixels by print density, measured in dots per inch (dpi). The formula is: pixels equal millimetres divided by 25.4, times dpi. For a 2 x 3 inch print you can skip the millimetres: 2 inches x 300 dpi = 600 pixels, and 3 inches x 300 dpi = 900 pixels.

For a 2 x 3 cm photo the same 600 x 900 pixel file prints at about 762 dpi, far above the usual 300 dpi target. Extra pixels do no harm here; the printer scales them down and the face stays sharp.

Two practical notes. First, 300 dpi is a common target for photo prints, and many small prints still look acceptable at 200 dpi, which for a wallet is 400 x 600 pixels.

Second, in our test the JPG downloaded from the tool did not store a dpi value (its JFIF header has no unit), so the print size is set when you print, not by the file. If an upload form asks for exact pixel dimensions such as 236 x 354, check whether it wants that exact size or simply a 2:3 shape.

2x3 vs 3x4 vs 4x6: same shape or not?

The three formats most often requested for ID photos are 2x3, 3x4 and 4x6. The detail people miss is shape. 2x3 and 4x6 are both 2:3, while 3x4 is 3:4, slightly wider for its height.

• 2x3 to 4x6 (or back) is a simple resize, no recropping, because the shape is identical.
• 2x3 to 3x4 needs a fresh crop from the original photo. Stretching a 2:3 image into a 3:4 frame makes the face look wider.
• 2x3 cm to 2x3 inch uses the same crop; only the print size changes.

The pixel tables for 3x4 and 4x6 at several dpi values are already in the 3x4 guide and the 4x6 guide, so they are not repeated here. If one application asks for both 2x3 and 3x4 photos, make two separate crops from the same original instead of cropping one result into the other.

How to make a 2x3 photo in your browser

The Dokurapi ID photo tool has no separate "2x3" option and does not build print sheets. It offers three crops: 3:4 (600 x 800 px), 4:6 (600 x 900 px) and no crop. Since 4:6 is the same shape as 2:3, the 4:6 crop is the one to use for any 2x3 photo. Everything runs in your browser tab; the photo is not uploaded, as explained in how browser-based tools work.

1. Start with a front-facing photo against a plain wall, with even light and your face in the middle of the frame.
2. Open the tool for your background: blue background or red background. You can switch colour in the Background menu.
3. Set Crop to 4:6 (600 x 900 px). The default is 3:4, so change it before you run the tool.
4. Click Create ID photo. The first run downloads the background detector once, about 13 MB.
5. Check the preview, especially hair, headscarf and shoulder edges, then click Download JPG. The file is named like dokurapi-pasfoto-blue-4x6.jpg; the 4x6 in the name refers to the shape, and the same file prints at 2x3.

In our test with that illustration, the downloaded 600 x 900 pixel JPG was 19,807 bytes, about 19 KB. A real photo with hair texture and fabric will be larger. If you only need a plain crop without a coloured background, a wallet print from any 2:3 crop works just as well.

How a phone photo becomes 2:3

Many phone cameras shoot in a 4:3 ratio by default. A portrait phone photo of 3024 x 4032 pixels is therefore 3:4, a little wider than 2:3. To reach 2:3, the tool's code keeps the full height, works out the new width, and crops from the centre.

The arithmetic: the height of 4032 pixels stays, and the width becomes 4032 x 2/3 = 2688 pixels. The remaining 336 pixels are removed evenly, 168 from each side, which is about 11% of the width. The crop is then scaled to 600 x 900 pixels. If the source photo is narrower than 2:3, the tool trims the top and bottom instead.

Because the crop always comes from the centre, keep your face in the middle when you take the photo and leave some space above the head and below the shoulders. At 2 x 3 cm, a loose frame makes the face tiny, while a tight one can clip hair or chin. If the face is off-centre, straighten the photo in your phone's gallery first.

How many 2x3 photos fit on a 4x6, Letter or A4 sheet

Small photos are cheapest when several share one sheet. The count is simply sheet size divided by photo size, after margins and any cutting gap. The Dokurapi tool does not arrange sheets, so the layout is done by your print shop or your printing app.

Always print at 100% or "actual size", never "fit to page", which can shrink every photo. Print one test sheet, measure it with a ruler, then print the rest. To hand several photos to a print shop as one file, combine them with photo to PDF.

File size for uploading a 2x3 photo

When a 2x3 photo is uploaded rather than printed, portals usually limit the file size in KB or MB, not the size in centimetres. Common limits are 100 KB, 200 KB, 500 KB and 1 MB. The tool saves a high-quality 600 x 900 pixel JPG, and its size depends on how much detail the photo has.

• 100 KB limit: use compress image to 100 KB, with the walkthrough in compress a photo to 100 KB.
• 200 KB limit: use compress image to 200 KB. Unsure about units? Read 200 KB to MB.
• Very small limits such as 50 KB: follow compress an image to 50 KB.
• Any other limit: compress image with a custom target.

Dokurapi's compressors keep a 6% safety margin, so a 200 KB target actually aims for about 188 KB and avoids misses caused by different ways of counting KB. Compress after cropping and changing the background, not before, so the photo is not compressed twice. Before you upload a full set of documents, run them through the steps in check file size before upload.

Common 2x3 photo mistakes

Most problems with 2x3 photos are not about the size itself but about small slips while cropping, printing or uploading.

• Leaving the crop at 3:4. The tool's default is 3:4. Forget to switch and you get 600 x 800 pixels, which does not fit a 2:3 frame.
• Mixing up inches and centimetres. Ask a print shop for "2x3" without a unit and you may get a wallet print more than six times the area of the ID photo you needed.
• Stretching instead of cropping. Forcing a 3:4 photo into a 2:3 frame makes the face look narrower.
• A face that is too small. In a 2 x 3 cm frame, too much background makes the face hard to recognise.
• Printing with "fit to page". The result is no longer 2 x 3. Print at 100%.
• A file that is too large. Compress to the portal limit and leave some headroom.

If a photo is rejected, read the message closely. "Invalid dimensions" points to the ratio or pixel count, while "file too large" points to KB. The first needs a new crop, the second needs compression. Keep the full-resolution original in a separate folder so you can make a new crop any time without reshooting.