UPSC Photo Size and Signature Size

UPSC photo size and signature size: official rules

Sources: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 notice and the instructions on the official application portal, upsconline.nic.in, checked November 2026.

How to resize your UPSC photo

1. Take a recent colour photo against a plain white wall in daylight, looking straight at the camera with eyes open.
2. Choose it in tool 1. The 20–200 KB range is already set.
3. Tap Crop & rotate and crop close: UPSC wants the face to cover at least three quarters of the photo. Keep the edges of your face visible.
4. Download. The file is named photo.jpg, as the portal expects.

The 75% face rule is stricter than most exams. A normal passport photo with shoulders and space above the head often has the face at only about half the frame. Crop from just above the hair to the chin.

How to make the UPSC triple signature

1. On plain white unruled paper, sign three times, one below the other, with a black pen. Leave a small gap between them and keep them the same size.
2. Photograph the block from straight above. The table around the paper is removed automatically.
3. Choose it in tool 2. The paper is cleaned to pure white and the empty margins are cut.
4. Tap UPSC 400×400 px, or another preset inside the 350–500 px range. The three signatures are fitted inside with a white border, never cut off.
5. Download. The file is named signature.jpg.

Three stacked signatures make a tall block, so UPSC 350×500 px often fits them best. The file must be at least 20 KB; a clean signature can be smaller, in which case the tool adds harmless padding inside the file.

Photo ID card upload

UPSC also asks for a photo ID card as a JPG between 20 KB and 200 KB; Aadhaar is recommended, and Voter ID, PAN, passport, driving licence or a government photo ID are also accepted. Photograph the card flat on a dark table, crop to the card with tool 1, and keep Max at 200 KB. Note that the download from tool 1 is named photo.jpg; rename it if the portal asks for a different name for the ID card.

Scribe photo and signature

Candidates who use a scribe upload the scribe's photo and signature as well. The portal uses the same limits as for the candidate: photo 20–200 KB, signature 20–100 KB with height and width between 350 and 500 pixels. Use the two tools above in the same way, then rename the downloads if the portal asks for specific scribe file names.

Common UPSC photo and signature mistakes

• Face less than 75%. The most common problem with UPSC photos. Crop tighter.
• Black and white photo. The portal says these are not accepted.
• One signature instead of three. UPSC specifically asks for three, one below the other.
• Signature image outside 350–500 px. A wide, short image of three signatures side by side fails the size check. Stack them vertically.
• Wrong file name. Name the files photo and signature; downloads from this page already are.
• Old rules from the internet. The "name and date on the photo" rule is not in the current UPSC instructions we checked.

Related

For NTA exams see NEET photo and signature size and JEE Main photo and signature size. For any 200 KB field, compress image to 200KB, and for other signature forms use signature resize.