What NDA asks for
The NDA & NA notices don't print any KB or pixel figures. The (II) 2026 notice tells you to upload a photo, capture a live photo and sign three times, and sends you to the UPSC portal's Photo & Signature instructions for the rest. The table is those instructions; under it are their words, the portal form's notes and the NDA notice's own line on the signature.
| Upload | Pixels | File size | Format | Background |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photograph | Not set | 20–200 KB | JPG/JPEG | Plain white; no dark background and no shadows |
| Triple signature | 350 × 350 to 500 × 500 px | 20–100 KB | JPG/JPEG | White unruled paper, black ink |
Photograph: the notice's words
“Upload a photo named photo in jpg format with a file size between 20KB and 200KB.”
“Ensure the photo is clear, recent, and shows your full face.”
“the face must cover at least 75% of the area in the photo”
“Photo background shall be plain white.”
“Photograph is NOT to be signed.”
Name and date on the photo: Not asked for from 2026. NDA (I) 2025 wanted your name and the date the photo was taken on it, and a photo no more than 10 days old; the 2026 notices and the portal dropped both rules.
Triple signature: the notice's words
“Applicants are required to sign three times (one below the other) on a plain white paper using black ink and upload the same while filling up the Common Application Form (CAF).”
“Upload three identical signatures signed in black ink on white unruled paper in one vertical column.”
“The height and width of signature image must be between 350 and 500 pixels”
“File size: 20 KB - 100 KB”
How to use the NDA resizer
- Choose a recent colour photo for card 1 (a phone photo against a plain white wall in daylight works) and a picture of your three signatures for card 2.
- Zoom the photo until your face fills at least three quarters of the frame with both ears inside, and tap Make the background white if the wall isn't white. Frame the three signatures to fill the square and tap Whiten the paper.
- When the checklists are green, download photo.jpg and signature.jpg, and upload them in the form's Photo & Signature step without renaming them.
Example: the NDA triple signature from a phone photo
- Triple signature: a 16-megapixel phone picture of the paper, 4,608 × 3,456 px, opens as a 2,400 × 1,800 px copy; the frame at the largest shape the range allows covers 1,800 × 1,800 px, drawn smaller, at 500 × 500 px. The JPEG is 20,480 to 100,000 bytes (20–100 KB), named signature.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 since NDA (I) 2025
- Name and date on the photo: required in NDA (I) 2025 (notice dated 11 December 2024); not asked for from 2026. Don't add a strip.
- How recent: NDA (I) 2025 said no more than 10 days old from the start of the application; 2026 asks for a clear, recent photo with no day limit.
- File sizes: 20–300 KB for both files in 2025; now 20–200 KB for the photo and 20–100 KB for the signature.
- Signature: the older portal instructions described one signature. NDA (I) 2026 (dated 10 December 2025) didn't mention signing three times; NDA (II) 2026 (dated 20 May 2026) added it as Note 3, and the portal now asks for three.
Coaching sites and older videos still show the 2025 rules, so check the date of any guide you follow.
Getting past the 75% face check
The portal asks that “the face must cover at least 75% of the area in the photo”, and it checks this on its server: a photo with too little face is stopped with a message that it doesn't meet the required 3/4th or 75% face coverage. A practical way to frame it is to zoom in until the top of your hair is just inside the top edge and your chin sits a little above the bottom edge, with both ears in the frame. The tool doesn't measure your face, so judge it on the preview. Look straight at the camera with a natural expression; no grinning, frowning or raised eyebrows.
Making the triple signature
Sign the same way three times, one below the other, on white unruled paper with a black pen, leaving space between them. Take one sharp, upright picture of all three and frame them in card 2: the tool makes a square of up to 500 × 500 px (the picture's own pixels when it has fewer, never below 350 × 350 px) and only goes smaller if it would be over 100 KB. The form's note, “The height and width of signature image must be between 350 and 500 pixels”, is why both sides stay inside 350–500 px.
The live photo in the NDA form
The form also takes a live photo, on top of the photo you upload. Capture from device uses your computer's web camera; Capture from mobile shows a QR code to scan with your phone. Take it in good light with your face clearly visible, looking straight into the camera, without a cap, mask or dark glasses. It is matched with your uploaded passport size photo, and if the two don't match you can't go further with the application.
“Capture of live photograph shall be mandatory for submission of the application for any examination.”
If you apply from a phone, use Capture from mobile in daylight against the same plain white wall as your uploaded photo, so the two match.
Why NDA uploads get rejected
- A photo where your face covers less than 3/4th of it is stopped by the portal's server check, with the message that it doesn't meet the required 3/4th or 75% face coverage.
- The portal's specimens of photos that aren't accepted: extra colour, too close, wearing a hat or cap, blurred, upside down, too dark, wearing goggles, facing sideways and too small.
- Photos in uniform, with your eyes hidden behind coloured or dark glasses or covered by hair, or with a dark background aren't accepted.
- Signature files that don't meet the specifications are rejected.
- If your live photo doesn't match your uploaded photo, you aren't allowed to go further with the application.
How the tool reaches the KB range
For the photo, your crop is kept (up to 2,400 pixels on the long side) and saved at the best JPEG quality under 200 KB; a big phone photo may also be scaled down, keeping its shape. For the signature, the square of up to 500 × 500 px is saved the same way. A file that comes out under 20 KB gets an invisible comment added to reach it, and the picture stays as it is. The checklist is worked out from the finished file. The same rules apply to every UPSC exam: see the UPSC Photo & Signature Resizer for CSE, ESE and CAPF notes, or the CDS & AFCAT resizer.
Check before you apply
- The NDA notices give no KB or pixel figures of their own. Note 2 and Note 4 of NDA (II) 2026 send you to the portal's Photo & Signature instructions, which all UPSC exams share.
- Coaching sites still repeat the NDA (I) 2025 rules: 20-300 KB, your name and the date on the photo, and a photo no more than 10 days old. None of them applies from 2026.
- NDA (I) 2026 had no note about signing three times; NDA (II) 2026 added it as Note 3, and the portal now asks every candidate for three signatures.
- UPSC gives no pixel or cm size for the photo, so the tool keeps your crop. The signature's 350-500 px applies to its width and its height.
- The portal's file addresses change when UPSC updates the site. Check again when the NDA & NA (I) 2027 notice is out (normally in December), in case the name-and-date or 10-day rule comes back.
Sources
Rules on this page and in the tool are as per the UPSC Instructions for Uploading the Photo & Signature (the portal file the NDA notices point to) dated 4 February 2026; check the latest notice before you apply. We read the official sources below on 8 October 2026 (NDA & NA Examination (II) 2026 (Notice No. 10/2026-NDA-II) and (I) 2026 (Notice No. 3/2026-NDA-I), both pointing to the UPSC portal's Photo & Signature instructions of February 2026) and will check them again by 31 December 2026.
- UPSC Instructions for Uploading the Photo & Signature (the portal file the NDA notices point to) ↗, dated 4 February 2026
- UPSC Notice No. 10/2026-NDA-II: NDA & NA Examination (II), 2026 ↗, dated 20 May 2026
- UPSC Notice No. 3/2026-NDA-I: NDA & NA Examination (I), 2026 ↗, dated 10 December 2025
- UPSC Common Application Form: upload notes and checks ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- UPSC Instructions for uploading documents (file name, format and size table) ↗, dated 31 July 2025
- UPSC NDA & NA Examination (I), 2025 notification (the old rules, history only) ↗, dated 11 December 2024