How to Print Passport Photos at a Store or at Home (2026 Guide)

The One Rule: Print at 100% Actual Size

A passport photo is only compliant if it is exactly the right physical size. The United States requires a 2 x 2 inch (51 x 51 mm) square; the UK, Schengen countries and Australia require 35 x 45 mm; Canada requires 50 x 70 mm. A photo that is two or three millimetres out can be refused, and the most common cause of a wrong-size print is a setting, not a bad photo: fit to page, auto-fit, auto-crop or borderless scaling. Any of these asks the printer to resize your file to fill the paper, which quietly changes the dimensions of every photo on the sheet.

The fix is universal. Whether you are at a photo kiosk or at a home printer, look for a scale or sizing option and choose 100%, actual size or original size. Turn off fit-to-page and auto-fit. Choose borderless only if the option explicitly keeps the image at its true size; when in doubt, leave a small white margin. Then — and this step is not optional — measure one photo with a ruler after printing. A US photo must be 2 x 2 inches (about 51 mm on each side); a UK or Schengen photo must be 35 mm wide and 45 mm high. If the measurement is off, the scaling changed and you should reprint before cutting. Our photo maker and checker confirms the pixel dimensions and aspect ratio before you ever send the file to a printer, which removes most of the guesswork.

One more part of the same rule: use a photo print, not a plain document print. At a store, choose the 4 x 6 inch photo print on glossy or matte photo paper rather than a black-and-white office copy, because passport photos must be printed on photo-quality paper at high resolution.

How to Print Passport Photos at CVS

CVS Photo counters take passport photos in store for about $17.99 for two prints (an extra $3.99 buys a digital copy), but you do not have to use that service. You can print your own 4 x 6 inch sheet at a CVS Photo kiosk for a few cents a print, which is the cheapest CVS route for a compliant photo you already have.

1. Generate the sheet first. Use the free sheet maker to build a 4 x 6 inch JPEG at 300 DPI with your country's photo size and faint cut lines.
2. Upload the file at the kiosk or online. At the store, insert a USB drive or use the kiosk's phone upload; online, add the JPEG to your CVS Photo cart.
3. Choose a 4 x 6 inch print and select glossy or matte photo paper. A single print holds six US 2 x 2 inch photos or eight 35 x 45 mm photos.
4. Turn off auto-correct and crop. CVS kiosks often offer an automatic enhance or crop step; decline any crop that changes the framing. If you are asked to fit the image, look for a full-frame or original-size option.
5. Pick up and measure. Check that each photo is exactly the required size before cutting along the lines. The CVS 4 x 6 inch print usually costs about $0.38.

Note that passport service photos cannot be ordered online for in-store pickup in the same way — the taken-photo service is in store only — but a self-made 4 x 6 inch sheet is an ordinary photo print and can be ordered online or at the kiosk. If you want CVS to take the photo, expect a two-photo pack and confirm the white background and neutral expression before you pay.

How to Print Passport Photos at Walgreens

Walgreens charges about $16.99 for two store-taken photos and includes a free digital copy by email. For a self-made sheet, the Walgreens Photo kiosk prints a 4 x 6 inch photo for roughly $0.39, which again holds six to eight photos.

1. Create the 4 x 6 inch sheet with the sheet maker, choosing your exact country size and 300 DPI.
2. Upload at the Walgreens Photo kiosk or on the app. Use Same-Day Pickup for a store collection, or order for delivery.
3. Select a 4 x 6 inch print on photo paper (glossy or matte). Do not choose a poster or a document print.
4. Skip the crop and enhance screens. Walgreens' editor suggests a crop by default; choose the option that keeps the full frame. Make sure no "fit to page" toggle is enabled.
5. Collect the print and verify the size with a ruler before trimming. If a photo is a millimetre or two large, the kiosk scaled it and you should reprint with actual size selected.

Walgreens is a good choice when you want the digital copy included, since the store service adds one free — but if you already generated your own sheet, the emailed file is unnecessary and the kiosk print is far cheaper.

How to Print Passport Photos at Walmart

Walmart is the cheapest full-service option in 2026 at roughly $7.44 for two photos, and its photo center also prints a 4 x 6 inch sheet for about $0.16 — the lowest per-sheet price of the major retailers. As an added convenience, Walmart's photo centers operate extended hours, and many are open on weekends.

1. Prepare the sheet with the sheet maker, at 4 x 6 inches and 300 DPI.
2. Use a Walmart photo kiosk or the Walmart Photo app. Upload from a phone, a USB stick or the app, and choose Same-Day Pickup.
3. Select a 4 x 6 inch print on photo paper. Confirm the quantity; one sheet is enough for a passport application plus spares.
4. Decline any auto-crop or fit option. The Walmart kiosk may offer an automatic crop; keep the full frame and select actual size.
5. Inspect and measure the print before cutting. At Walmart's price, printing a second sheet is cheap insurance if the first looks off.

If you prefer Walmart to capture the photo, the in-store service charges about $7.44 for the pair and is the least expensive staffed option. Either way, the same sizing rule applies to the final print.

How to Print Passport Photos at FedEx Office

FedEx Office offers a passport photo service around $15.95, and for that price you choose either two 2 x 2 inch prints or a digital file — not both. FedEx Office locations also provide self-service and staff-assisted printing, so you can bring your own 4 x 6 inch sheet and print it as a photo.

1. Build your 4 x 6 inch sheet from a compliant photo, or bring a digital file you trust.
2. Use the self-service copier/printer or ask a team member to print the file as a photo at 4 x 6 inches.
3. Set scaling to actual size (100%) in the print dialog and disable fit-to-page or auto-resize.
4. Print one sheet, measure a photo, and only then print extras. FedEx Office pricing is higher per print than Walmart, so verify before buying more.

FedEx Office is a reasonable choice if there is no pharmacy photo counter nearby, but for a self-made sheet its per-print price is usually higher than Walmart, CVS or Walgreens.

How to Print Passport Photos at Home

Home printing is the cheapest method and gives you the most control, provided your printer is reasonably accurate. You need 4 x 6 inch photo paper and a printer that can handle it (most inkjet photo printers can; many standard printers accept 4 x 6 inch sheets in a dedicated tray).

1. Generate the 4 x 6 inch sheet with the sheet maker and download the JPEG.
2. Set the paper size to 4 x 6 inches in the printer dialog, matching the paper actually loaded.
3. Set scaling to 100% / actual size. Turn off "fit to page" and "scale to fit". Choose the highest print quality (best photo setting).
4. Print on photo paper — glossy or matte photo-quality stock — and let the ink dry fully before touching the surface.
5. Measure one photo with a ruler. If it is not exactly 2 x 2 inches (or 35 x 45 mm, etc.), adjust scaling and reprint before cutting.
6. Cut along the faint guide lines with scissors or a paper trimmer, keeping clean, square edges.

Home printing costs only the paper and ink — a 4 x 6 inch sheet of photo paper runs roughly $0.30 to $0.50, and a single sheet yields six photos, so the effective cost per photo is a few cents. That is the main reason to make and check your photo digitally first and print it yourself rather than paying a store per-photo price.

Cost Comparison: Store Service vs Printing Your Own Sheet

The table below compares the two-photo store service with printing a single 4 x 6 inch sheet that holds six photos. Prices reflect 2026 US retail listings and can vary by location; treat them as a guide and confirm at checkout.

For a single application, printing your own sheet saves roughly $7 to $18 and takes about the same trip to the store. The trade-off is that you supply the compliant photo, which is exactly what the sheet maker and the checker are for.

How to Use the Free Sheet Maker to Get Six Photos

The fastest route from a phone photo to a printable sheet is the free Passport Photo Print Sheet Maker. It runs entirely in your browser, uploads nothing, and produces a 4 x 6 inch sheet at 300 DPI with faint cut lines, plus optional A4 and Letter layouts.

1. Upload a compliant photo. Use a passport-rule photo: plain white background, neutral expression, no glasses, taken within the last six months.
2. Pick your country preset. USA 2 x 2 inch, UK and Schengen 35 x 45 mm, Canada 50 x 70 mm, China 33 x 48 mm, Australia 35 x 45 mm and more are built in. If you are unsure of the size, the visa photo size guide lists the exact millimetres and pixels for every country.
3. Crop and clean the background. Frame your head to the required size fraction and use the brightness slider to whiten a slightly grey wall.
4. Generate the 4 x 6 inch sheet. The tool lays out six photos in a grid with faint guide lines. Download the JPEG.
5. Print at 100%. At a kiosk or at home, select a 4 x 6 inch photo print and actual size, then measure one photo before cutting.

If you want to confirm the digital file first — especially for the DS-160 online upload — run it through the photo maker and checker, which verifies dimensions, aspect ratio and file size. Applicants renewing a passport can pair this with the US passport renewal guide 2026, and first-time applicants should read the US passport application (DS-11) guide to see exactly how many photos the form requires.

When a Store Photo Gets Rejected (and How to Self-Correct)

The most common store failure is auto-crop. Kiosks and some staffed counters crop a photo to a 4 x 6 inch aspect ratio automatically, which can cut off the top of the head, shift the face off-centre, or make the head the wrong proportion of the frame. Other frequent causes are a background that is off-white, flash glare on the forehead or glasses, a faint shadow behind the ear, and prints that come out a millimetre or two too large or too small because the file was scaled.

Here is how to diagnose and fix each one:

• Wrong physical size: measure a photo with a ruler. If it is not exact, reprint with actual size selected and no fit-to-page.
• Head too small or too large: recrop the digital file so the head occupies the required fraction — the US wants the head 1 to 1-3/8 inches (25 to 35 mm), or 50 to 69 percent of the image height; Schengen wants roughly 70 to 80 percent.
• Background not white: retake against a plain white wall or use the sheet maker's brightness slider to clean a near-white background.
• Glare or shadow: retake facing a window with no flash, standing about half a metre from the wall so no shadow falls behind you.
• Cropped head or off-centre face: reject the kiosk's automatic crop and keep the full frame, then align the head with the sheet maker.

Before you resubmit, run the corrected file through the photo checker and re-generate the sheet. A 30-second check is far cheaper than a rejected application or a delayed passport. If the rejection relates to an expiring passport rather than the photo, the passport validity checker can tell you whether your current document still meets the destination's rules.

Matte vs Glossy and Choosing Photo Paper

Passport rules care much more about size, background and clarity than about paper finish, but the finish still affects how a photo reads. The US State Department accepts printed photos on matte or glossy photo-quality paper, so either works as long as the print is sharp, correctly sized and undamaged.

• Glossy: richer contrast and colour, which suits portrait faces. It can, however, reflect light and show fingerprints, so handle it by the edges.
• Matte: no glare and less prone to smudging, which makes it a safe choice for a scanned or photographed passport photo. It can look slightly flatter.
• Paper weight: use a proper photo paper (typically 200 gsm or higher). Thin office paper bends and can look unprofessional or scan badly.

Whichever you choose, avoid plain copy paper and avoid low-resolution drafts. Print at the highest quality your printer or kiosk offers so the face is in focus with no visible dots, and let inkjet prints dry fully before stacking or cutting them.

What to Bring to the Store Photo Counter

If you are using a store only to print your own sheet, the trip is simple: bring the sheet file and a way to load it. If you want the store to take the photo, bring a little more.

• For self-printing: the 4 x 6 inch JPEG on your phone (with the store's app or a photo upload), on a USB drive, or emailed to yourself; small cash or a card; and a ruler to verify the size on collection.
• For a store-taken photo: your current passport or photo ID, a note of your country's requirements (size, background), and a willingness to remove glasses and any headwear. Wear a plain top that contrasts with a white background.
• For both: a printed copy of the requirements from our visa photo size guide so you can confirm the size and background at the counter, and the checker result if you have one.

Bringing the requirements printed out prevents the most common counter error — a technician printing the wrong country's size — and takes ten seconds to check.

Frequently Asked Questions