DV Lottery photo size tool
The US Diversity Visa (Green Card) Lottery is unforgiving about photos: the E-DV portal wants a square JPEG — 600 × 600 pixels minimum — no larger than 240 KB, in full colour, with your head filling 50–69% of the frame. Photo problems are one of the classic ways entries get disqualified, and there are no second chances within an entry period. This preset produces exactly 600 × 600 px (center-cropped, never stretched) at just under the size cap.
Your photo is processed on your own device — nothing about a green-card application should pass through an anonymous image server.
DV Lottery preset: exactly 600 × 600 px square, JPEG, under 240 KB.
Drop images here — or click to browse, or paste with Ctrl+V
JPG · PNG · WebP — processed on your device, never uploaded
Output is fixed at 600×600px (center-cropped to fit, not stretched).
How it works
- Open this page — the compressor is already set for “DV Lottery photo size tool”.
- Drop your image into the box, click to browse, or paste it with Ctrl+V.
- The tool re-encodes the image on your own device until it fits the target — nothing is uploaded.
- Check the preview and file size on the result card, then download.
E-DV digital photo requirements (official guidance, July 2026)
| Requirement | Specification |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | Square, 600 × 600 px minimum (up to 1200 × 1200) — this preset outputs 600 × 600 |
| File size | 240 KB maximum |
| Format | JPEG, full colour (24-bit) — black-and-white is rejected |
| Head size | 50–69% of the image height, facing the camera directly |
| Background | Plain white or off-white, no shadows |
| Photo age | Taken within the last 6 months |
| Editing | No digital enhancement or alteration of appearance — AI retouching can disqualify the entry |
Compiled July 2026 from the State Department’s photo guidance. Always confirm against the current official DV instructions on travel.state.gov before submitting your entry.
Tips for a first-try acceptance
- Shoot against a white or off-white wall in even light, then crop roughly square with your head filling 50–69% of the height before dropping the photo in — the preset handles pixels and bytes, not composition.
- Do not run the photo through beautifying or AI-enhancement filters. The rules explicitly ban altered photos, and a disqualified photo means a disqualified entry.
- Every person on the entry — spouse and each child — needs their own compliant photo. Batch mode handles the whole family in one pass.
- Recent means recent: reusing the photo from your last passport (or last year’s entry) is a known disqualification trap if it’s older than 6 months.
Frequently asked questions
Can I take my DV Lottery photo with a phone?
Yes — a modern phone camera exceeds the required quality. The failures are usually lighting, background and framing, not the camera. Use daylight, a plain pale wall, no shadows, and have someone else take it from eye level.
The E-DV site rejected my photo — what was wrong with it?
The mechanical rejections are: not square, smaller than 600 × 600 px, over 240 KB, or not a JPEG — this preset fixes all four. Content rejections (head too small or too large in frame, busy background, shadows) have to be fixed by re-shooting or re-cropping before you compress.
Is it safe to prepare a green-card photo with an online tool?
With an upload-based tool, that’s a real question — you’re sending an identity photo tied to an immigration application to an unknown server. This tool never uploads it: the crop and compression run in your browser, verifiable in DevTools, and it works offline.