Photo and Signature Sizes for Every Major Indian Exam
A single reference table of photo and signature requirements across SSC, IBPS, SBI, NTA and UPSC — with sources and verification dates.
Every exam publishes its own upload rules, most tool sites copy them from each other, and the copies go stale. Worse, they disagree: for one state commission we found four different photograph specifications on four different resizer sites, and for GATE the most popular guide publishes 480 × 640 px and 20–200 KB when the organising institute's own page says 200 × 260 to 530 × 690 px and 5–600 KB.
So this table does something the others do not: it names the source for every row, and it lists separately the exams we could not confirm rather than quietly filling the gap with a guess. 19 of 45 are confirmed against an official page or notification.
Verified specifications
| Exam | Photograph | Signature | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSC CGL | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 20–50 KB, JPG, white background | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ssc.gov.in |
| SSC CHSL | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 20–50 KB, JPG, white background | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ssc.gov.in |
| SSC GD Constable | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 20–50 KB, JPG, white background | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ssc.gov.in |
| SSC MTS | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 20–50 KB, JPG, white background | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ssc.gov.in |
| SSC CPO | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 20–50 KB, JPG, white background | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ssc.gov.in |
| SSC JE | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 20–50 KB, JPG, white background | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ssc.gov.in |
| SSC Stenographer | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 20–50 KB, JPG, white background | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ssc.gov.in |
| IBPS PO | 200 × 230 px, 20–50 KB, JPG, light background | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ibps.in |
| IBPS Clerk | 200 × 230 px, 20–50 KB, JPG, light background | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ibps.in |
| IBPS RRB | 200 × 230 px, 20–50 KB, JPG | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ibps.in |
| SBI PO | 200 × 230 px, 20–50 KB, JPG | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | sbi.co.in/careers |
| SBI Clerk | 200 × 230 px, 20–50 KB, JPG | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | sbi.co.in/careers |
| NEET UG | 3.5 × 4.5 cm (about 413 × 531 px at 300 dpi), 10–200 KB, JPEG | 3–30 KB, JPEG | nta.ac.in |
| CTET | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 10–100 KB, JPG / JPEG | 3.5 × 1.5 cm, 3–30 KB, JPG / JPEG | ctet.nic.in information bulletin |
| UPSC | JPG, up to 300 KB | JPG, up to 300 KB | upsc.gov.in |
| UPSC CDS | JPG, up to 300 KB | JPG, up to 300 KB | upsc.gov.in |
| UPSC NDA | JPG, up to 300 KB | JPG, up to 300 KB | upsc.gov.in |
| Delhi Police | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 20–50 KB, JPG, white background | 140 × 60 px, 10–20 KB, JPG | ssc.gov.in |
| GATE | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 200 × 260 to 530 × 690 px, 5–600 KB, JPEG, white background | 250 × 80 to 580 × 180 px, 3–300 KB, JPEG, black or dark blue ink | gate2026.iitg.ac.in |
The other three uploads people forget
Bank recruitment forms ask for more than a photograph and a signature. Both of the figures below are consistent across every source we checked and match the photograph and signature figures in the same notifications, but we could not open the official PDF directly to confirm them.
| Document | Specification | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Handwritten declaration | 800 × 400 px, 50–100 KB, JPG, black ink on white paper, not in capitals | IBPS PO, Clerk, RRB, SO; SBI PO and Clerk |
| Left thumb impression | 240 × 240 px, 20–50 KB, JPG | IBPS and SBI recruitment |
| Name and date on the photo | Printed inside the photograph, not added below it | UPSC; for SSC the published guidance conflicts |
Note that the thumb impression is square. It is not the 140 × 60 signature box, and squeezing a thumb print into that strip is a routine reason an upload is rejected.
Where we could not verify
These publish their limits inside individual notifications that change between cycles, and in the case of GATE and CAT the organising institute changes each year: RBI Grade B, JEE Main, JEE Advanced, CUET UG, UGC NET, UPPSC, BPSC, MPSC, TNPSC, WBPSC, RPSC, KPSC, MPPSC, APPSC, RRB NTPC, RRB Group D, RRB ALP, Agniveer, AFCAT, Indian Navy, UP Police, Bihar Police, CAT, CLAT, NSP Scholarship, PAN Card.
Those pages on this site carry a visible "not fully verified" warning, and the any-size resizer exists for exactly this case — you enter the pixel box and the KB range from your own notification instead of trusting a number somebody copied. We would rather flag a gap than present a guess as fact, because a wrong number here costs you an application.
The patterns worth knowing
Three families of specification
- SSC family — 20–50 KB photo, 10–20 KB signature, no fixed pixel dimensions for the photograph since it is captured live in the application module.
- Banking family (IBPS, SBI, RBI) — the same size ranges but with an exact 200 × 230 pixel photograph requirement, plus a thumb impression and handwritten declaration.
- NTA family (NEET, JEE, CUET, UGC NET) — generous on the photograph, tight on the signature, and prone to changing between sessions.
The 140 × 60 signature is near-universal
It originated with IBPS and most other commissions adopted it. One properly prepared signature file usually serves an entire application season: 10 KB · 20 KB · 50 KB · thumb impression.
Ranges have floors
"20–50 KB" means a 6 KB file fails too. This catches people who compressed repeatedly trying to get under the ceiling and sailed past the floor. Our exam tools warn you when this happens rather than handing back a file that will bounce.
More on the individual failure modes in why your exam form photo keeps getting rejected.