What PAN asks for
PAN has no single notice. Protean (formerly NSDL e-Gov) and UTIITSL each publish their own limits, and Protean's DSC page gives them as a table whose columns are the photo, the signature and documents. Every official upload spec gives the size in cm, and none gives pixels. The table below shows the strictest limit for each file, which is what the tool keeps to; under it are each portal's own words.
| Upload | Pixels | File size | Format | Background |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photograph | Not set 2.5 × 3.5 cm, 200 DPI or more the tool makes 197 × 276 px, worked out | up to 20 KB | JPEG (.jpg) | White (the Form 93 paper photos need white backgrounds; the upload rules name no colour) |
| Signature | Not set 4.5 × 2 cm the tool makes 354 × 157 px, worked out | up to 10 KB | JPEG (.jpg) | Plain white paper, black ink (advice in a Protean article) |
Photograph: the notice's words
“Resolution (in DPI) 200 DPI”
“Size Max. 20 KB”
“Dimension 3.5X2.5 cms.”
“Only .jpg extension file allowed; DPI lesser than 200 dpi; 3.5(H) x 2.5(W) cms; Maximum file size: 50kB”
“Photo size must be less than 30KB.”
Name and date on the photo: Not asked for: no Protean or UTIITSL source mentions a name or date on the PAN photo.
What the tool makes: 197 × 276 px (2.5 × 3.5 cm at 200 DPI; no PAN source gives pixels). These are worked out from the notice's numbers, not stated in it.
Signature: the notice's words
“Max. 10 KB”
“2X4.5 cms.”
“Only .jpg extension file allowed; DPI lesser than 200 dpi; 2(H) x 4.5(W) cms; Maximum file size: 50kB”
“Signature size must be less than 60KB.”
What the tool makes: 354 × 157 px (4.5 × 2 cm at 200 DPI; no PAN source gives pixels); 200 DPI written into the file, from Protean's DSC table, which gives 200 DPI for the signature too. These are worked out from the notice's numbers, not stated in it.
How to use the PAN photo and signature resizer
- Choose a recent colour photo of yourself for card 1, and a scan or straight phone photo of your signature, in black ink on white paper, for card 2.
- Drag or zoom until your face is centred in the 197 × 276 frame, and tap Make the background white if the wall behind you isn't white. Frame the signature so the ink fills most of its wide box; Whiten the paper clears a grey background.
- When both checklists are green, download the photo (up to 20 KB) and the signature (up to 10 KB), and upload them in the e-Sign or DSC scanned-upload mode.
Example: a phone photo through the PAN resizer
- Photograph: a 12-megapixel phone photo, 3,024 × 4,032 px, opens as a 1,800 × 2,400 px copy; the frame at the worked-out 197 × 276 px (2.5 × 3.5 cm at 200 DPI; no PAN source gives pixels) covers 1,713 × 2,400 px, drawn smaller, at 197 × 276 px. The JPEG is at most 20,000 bytes (up to 20 KB) with 200 DPI, named pan-photo-197x276.jpg.
The JPEG quality it lands on depends on the picture itself.
Which limit applies: 20 KB, 30 KB or 50 KB?
It depends on where and how you apply, which is why sites quote different numbers. These are the official limits, read on 8 October 2026:
| Where you apply | Photo | Signature | File type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protean, DSC mode | Max. 20 KB | Max. 10 KB | JPEG |
| Protean, e-Sign mode | 50 kB | 50 kB | .jpg only |
| UTIITSL | under 30 KB | under 60 KB | jpeg, jpg or png |
| This tool | up to 20 KB | up to 10 KB | JPEG (.jpg) |
The tool keeps to the smallest of each, so the same two files pass on both portals and in both scanned modes. A 197 × 276 px photo is small, so 20 KB usually leaves room for a sharp JPEG.
Why 197 × 276 and 354 × 157 pixels
Protean's table gives the photo as 3.5 × 2.5 cm and the signature as 2 × 4.5 cm (height first), both at 200 DPI, and the e-Sign screen writes them as 3.5(H) x 2.5(W) and 2(H) x 4.5(W). At 200 dots per inch, 2.5 cm is 197 pixels and 3.5 cm is 276, so the photo comes out at 197 × 276 px; the signature's 4.5 × 2 cm comes out at 354 × 157 px. These are worked out, not printed in any notice, and each file has 200 DPI written into it so it measures the right size in cm. Pixel sizes you may see quoted for PAN elsewhere don't come from Protean or UTIITSL.
Do you need to upload a photo at all?
Only in a scanned-upload mode. If you apply with Aadhaar based e-KYC (the paperless mode), your photo and details are fetched from UIDAI and you upload neither file; UTIITSL says that in digital mode you don't need to submit the photo and signature. You need the files from this page when you choose e-Sign or DSC with scanned images. If the PAN is for a minor, note that a minor's photo isn't printed on the card.
Signing, or using your thumb impression
Sign in black ink on plain white paper, as a Protean article advises, and keep a little white space around it so the crop doesn't cut a stroke. If you can't sign, Protean's FAQ asks for a left hand thumb impression (LTI) in the signature's place, preferably in black ink, and its instructions add that a thumb impression should be attested by a Magistrate, Notary Public, Oath Commissioner or Gazetted Officer under official seal and stamp. On a paper form or acknowledgement, the signature or LTI goes inside its box and across the left-hand photo, never on the right-hand photo. No size is published for an LTI image.
For the photos you paste on a paper form, Form 93's boxes say "Recent colour photograph of the applicant (4.5 cm x 3.5 cm)", while Protean's FAQ still says 3.5 cm x 2.5 cm. Print them with the Passport Size Photo Maker at the size your form's box shows.
Why PAN uploads get rejected
Neither portal publishes a list of rejection reasons for the photo and signature. These are the checks their forms run:
- UTIITSL's form refuses a photo over 30 KB ("Photo size must be less than 30KB.") and a signature over 60 KB ("Signature size must be less than 60KB."), counting 1 KB as 1,024 bytes; its check lets a file of exactly 30 or 60 KB through.
- UTIITSL takes only JPEG, JPG or PNG files ("Kindly upload jpeg/jpg/png file only."), and Protean's e-Sign screen only files with a .jpg extension.
- Protean's DSC page sets the photo at Max. 20 KB and the signature at Max. 10 KB, and its e-Sign screen at 50 kB for each: a bigger file is over the limit for that mode.
How the tool reaches the KB range
Each file is drawn at its worked-out size and saved as a JPEG at the highest quality that stays under the maximum (up to 20 KB for the photo, up to 10 KB for the signature), found by halving the gap between a too-big and a small-enough quality about seven times. No PAN portal sets a minimum file size, so nothing is added to the file. 200 DPI is written into both files, and the checklist is read back from the finished file. For other photo sizes in KB, use the Image Compressor.
Check before you apply
- Three official limits apply: Protean's DSC page (last modified 3 August 2026) says Max. 20 KB for the photo and Max. 10 KB for the signature; Protean's e-Sign screen says 50 kB for each; UTIITSL's form takes under 30 KB and under 60 KB. The tool keeps to 20 KB and 10 KB, which pass all three.
- No official source gives a pixel size. The tool works one out from the cm size at 200 DPI and shows it on each card: it's calculated, not an official pixel size.
- The e-Sign screen says "DPI lesser than 200 dpi" while the DSC table says 200 DPI, so the tool reads 200 DPI as the least scan resolution and writes 200 DPI into both files, as in the DSC table.
- In Aadhaar e-KYC (paperless) mode you upload no photo or signature: your details come from UIDAI. The scanned photo and signature are needed only in the e-Sign and DSC scanned-upload modes.
- We couldn't open the live upload screens, because both portals show them only after you start an application. Check the limits on your own screen before you upload.
- Photos pasted on paper: Form 93's photo boxes and the correction instructions say 4.5 cm x 3.5 cm, but Protean's FAQ and its Form 95/96 page still say 3.5 cm x 2.5 cm. That's for the printed photo only; the scanned upload is 3.5 x 2.5 cm in every official upload spec.
Sources
Rules on this page and in the tool are as per the Protean guidelines for DSC based online PAN applications (Form 93 / Form 94) (read on 8 October 2026); check the latest notice before you apply. We read the official sources below on 8 October 2026 (PAN forms under the Income-tax Rules 2026 (Form 93, 94, 95 and 96, in force from 1 April 2026); Protean's DSC guideline page last modified 3 August 2026) and will check them again by 1 April 2027.
- Protean guidelines for DSC based online PAN applications (Form 93 / Form 94) ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- Protean article "How to apply for PAN online" (16 April 2024), quoting the e-Sign upload screen ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- UTIITSL online PAN form checks (validation script, last modified 1 July 2026) ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- Form No. 93 with its guidelines (Protean copy, last modified 31 March 2026) ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- Protean PAN FAQ ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- Protean PAN change and correction instructions ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- UTIITSL: Apply for New PAN Card (Form No. 93 and Form No. 94) ↗, read on 8 October 2026