What CUET (UG) asks for
CUET (UG) has one application for every subject and university, so these two files cover the whole form. NTA's rule is short: a KB range and JPG or JPEG for both, and for the photo, colour, your face filling 80% of it, ears showing, no mask, white behind you. The bulletin's own lines follow the table.
| Upload | Pixels | File size | Format | Background |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scanned passport size photograph | Not set | 10–200 KB | JPG/JPEG | White |
| Signature | Not set | 10–50 KB | JPG/JPEG | Not stated |
Scanned passport size photograph: the notice's words
“The candidate will have to upload his/her live photograph at the time of filling of the application form and will also have to upload his/her recent Scanned passport size photograph which should be in colour with 80% face (including ears, without a mask) against white background.”
“Size of the photograph should be between 10 kb to 200 kb and in JPG/JPEG format (clearly legible).”
Name and date on the photo: Not asked for. The CUET (UG) 2026 bulletin says nothing about a name or date on the photo; 2025 had only a file-naming rule, now dropped.
Signature: the notice's words
“Signature file should be JPG/JPEG format (clearly legible) between 10 kb to 50 kb.”
How to use the CUET resizer
- Pick your recent colour photo in card 1 and a clear picture of your signature in card 2. Phone photos are fine, iPhone HEIC included.
- Zoom in on the photo until your face, with both ears, fills about 80% of the frame, and drag it to the centre; if the wall behind you isn't white, Make the background white repaints it. Zoom the signature until it fills most of its frame; if the paper looks grey, Whiten the paper fixes it.
- Once both cards show a green checklist, save the photo (10–200 KB) and the signature (10–50 KB), then upload them in the form's photo and signature step.
Example: a phone photo through the CUET (UG) resizer
- Scanned passport size photograph: a 16-megapixel phone photo, 3,456 × 4,608 px, opens as a 1,800 × 2,400 px copy; with no shape set, the frame is the whole 1,800 × 2,400 px, kept at 1,800 × 2,400 px. The JPEG is 10,240 to 200,000 bytes (10–200 KB), named cuet-ug-photo-1800x2400.jpg. Over the limit even at 60% quality, it would get fewer pixels, same shape.
The JPEG quality it lands on depends on the picture itself.
What changed from CUET 2025
- The KB ranges didn't change: the photo is still 10–200 KB and the signature 10–50 KB, both JPG or JPEG.
- The photo must now be in colour. In 2025 black and white was allowed too.
- The file-naming rules are gone. 2025 asked for a photo file name with "_Photo" in it and a signature file named with the first two characters of your name and "_Signature".
- A live photo was added to the form, on top of the scanned photo (see below).
If a coaching guide still says black and white is fine or gives a file-name pattern, it is describing 2025. Follow the 2026 bulletin, and check the 2027 one when NTA publishes it.
Your photo on exam day
Print a copy of the same photo you upload and keep it with your admit card: at the exam centre you paste it on the attendance sheet, so it should be the same picture, not a newer one. To print several copies at once, the Passport Size Photo Maker makes print sheets. If you verify your identity with a document other than Aadhaar, NTA's FAQ (Q14) says you may upload a signed, attested identity certificate with a recent certified photograph.
The live photo in the CUET (UG) form
As well as the scanned photo you upload, the CUET (UG) 2026 form captures a live photo through your device's camera or a connected webcam. No webcam? A QR code on the screen lets you take it with a phone or tablet instead. NTA asks for a light-coloured background, proper lighting and 80% face visibility, ears included and no mask. NTA then compares it with your Aadhaar photo.
“For capturing Live Photograph, candidates should switch on their camera or connect their webcam to the device used for filling the Application Form.”
Take your mask off before you start, sit facing a window or a bright light, and keep a plain, light wall behind you.
Why CUET (UG) uploads get rejected
- The 2026 bulletin and FAQ don't list rejection reasons for the photo or signature. What they set is the KB range and the JPG/JPEG format for both, and a colour photo with 80% face, ears visible, no mask and a white background.
- A major mismatch between your live photo and your Aadhaar photo is reviewed by NTA, which tells you by email or text message (FAQ Q13).
How the tool reaches the KB range
Because the bulletin sets no pixel size, the tool saves exactly the part of the picture you framed, at up to 2,400 pixels on its longer side. It then looks for the highest JPEG quality that keeps the file under the maximum. Should the file still be too big at 60% quality, the tool scales the picture down, same shape, and searches again. A plain signature that lands under 10 KB gets an invisible comment added until it reaches 10 KB; the ink and paper don't change. The checklist is read back from the saved file. For another form that wants a fixed pixel size, use the Image Resizer; to change only the KB, Increase Image Size in KB.
Check before you apply
- These are the CUET (UG) 2026 rules: on 8 October 2026 cuet.nta.nic.in listed only the 2026 and 2025 bulletins. When the 2027 bulletin comes out (expected around December 2026 to January 2027), check the KB ranges, the format, the colour and white background rule and the live photo again.
- NTA gives no pixel, cm or DPI size for the photo or the signature. That's why the crop stays yours and only the KB is adjusted; a cm or pixel size quoted elsewhere isn't an NTA rule.
- From 2025 to 2026 the KB ranges stayed the same. 2026 made a colour photo compulsory, dropped the file-naming rules ("_Photo" and "_Signature") and added the live photo.
- Two other files go in the same step, and this tool makes neither: a disability/UDID certificate (PDF, 50–300 KB), and an identity proof (JPG/JPEG, 10–200 KB) for candidates who don't verify through Aadhaar or DigiLocker.
Sources
Rules on this page and in the tool are as per the CUET (UG) 2026 Information Bulletin dated 3 January 2026; check the latest notice before you apply. We read the official sources below on 8 October 2026 (CUET (UG) 2026 Information Bulletin, academic year 2026-27, applications 3 to 30 January 2026; no CUET (UG) 2027 bulletin had been published on 8 October 2026) and will check them again by 1 December 2026.
- CUET (UG) 2026 Information Bulletin ↗, dated 3 January 2026
- CUET (UG) 2026 Frequently Asked Questions (NTA) ↗, dated 16 January 2026
- CUET (UG) official portal, Information Bulletin page ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- CUET (UG) 2025 Information Bulletin (previous cycle, for comparison) ↗, dated 1 March 2025