The Sarathi Parivahan portal at parivahan.gov.in is the strictest Indian government document portal for file uploads. Its upload screen asks for both photo and signature as JPEGs of 10–20 KB each, a tighter cap than the “not more than 50 KB” that the official CMVR Form 2 itself prints for the online application. The portal rejects on technical grounds the moment you try to upload anything outside spec, and there is no second chance once you have paid the application fee: the photo and signature lock in until the RTO either approves the application or returns it.
Here is what the portal actually wants and how to prepare both files in one short pass.
Sarathi Parivahan upload spec for 2026
Photo
- Format: JPEG only (no PNG, no PDF)
- Dimensions: 35 × 45 mm (about 295 × 380 px)
- File size: 10–20 KB (Sarathi upload-screen limit)
- Background: plain white or off-white
- Face coverage: 65-75% of frame
- Taken within: 6 months
Signature
- Format: JPEG
- Dimensions: 35 × 15 mm (about 295 × 130 px)
- File size: 10–20 KB (Sarathi upload-screen limit)
- Ink: black ballpoint on plain white paper
- Running-hand signature
Both fields share the same 10–20 KB range on the Sarathi upload screen, which is unusual: most portals allow 50 KB for the photo and reserve the tight cap for the signature. One honest nuance: that 10–20 KB figure comes from the portal screen itself and is corroborated by every third-party guide, but it does not appear in any public official notification. The official CMVR Form 2 on parivahan.gov.in says the online-upload photo should be “of the size not more than 50 KB”. Prepare both files under 20 KB and you satisfy the stricter of the two figures, whatever your state's screen enforces.
Driving licence photo size in cm (and pixels)
If you searched “driving licence size in cm”, here is the one dimension that is actually official: 3.5 × 4.5 cm (35 × 45 mm), standard Indian passport size. The official CMVR Form 2 (the learner licence / driving licence application form on parivahan.gov.in) provides a “Space for passport size photograph” and carries the printed note that the photo uploaded for the online application should be “of the size not more than 50 KB”. Every other number floating around sits at a lower level of officialness, so the table below labels each figure by where it actually comes from.
| Spec | Value | How official is it? |
|---|---|---|
| Physical photo size | 3.5 × 4.5 cm (35 × 45 mm), passport size | Official: CMVR Form 2, parivahan.gov.in |
| Online upload cap | Not more than 50 KB | Official: printed note on Form 2 |
| Sarathi screen limit | 10–20 KB per file (photo & signature, JPEG) | Portal-screen spec, widely corroborated but not notification-grade |
| Photo pixels | 420 × 525 px | Third-party convention; no official pixel spec exists |
| Signature pixels | 256 × 64 px | Third-party convention; no official pixel spec exists |
| Physical prints to carry | Delhi: 2 · Maharashtra & Punjab: 3 | State-set; the central Form 2 specifies no count |
On pixels: no official parivahan or Sarathi document specifies pixel dimensions at all. The 420 × 525 px photo and 256 × 64 px signature figures are the convention most third-party resize tools converge on, and the ~295 × 380 px figure quoted earlier in this guide is another proportional take on the same 35 × 45 mm portrait. Treat all of them as practical guidance, not gospel. What Sarathi actually enforces is JPEG format and the KB cap.
On physical prints: the count is set by your state, not the central form. Delhi's transport department asks for 2 passport-size photographs for a learner licence, while Maharashtra and Punjab ask for 3. CMVR Form 2 itself specifies no count, so check your state RTO's page before travelling to the counter.
Why Sarathi is harder than other portals
Three things make Sarathi uniquely strict. Both files share the same tight 10–20 KB screen limit, with no room for negotiation on upload. The portal validates the JPEG header strictly, so files saved by lightweight tools that omit certain JPEG markers get rejected. And the upload UI does not show a clear error message; it just refuses to advance to the next page, leaving applicants guessing what failed.
State variation adds noise too. A few RTOs run their own validation layer on top of Sarathi; Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in particular auto-reject photos that the central portal accepts. The safe play is to hit a buffer well under 20 KB (aim for 15-18 KB) for both files.
The five reasons Sarathi rejects uploads
1. File size over 20 KB. Even 21 KB bounces. Aim for 15-18 KB to give yourself a margin in case the upload encoder adds bytes.
2. Distorted or wrongly proportioned crop. To be clear, the portal itself enforces only JPEG format and the KB cap (no official pixel spec exists). But a photo stretched out of the 35 × 45 portrait proportion, or a squashed signature, is an easy rejection when RTO staff scrutinise the application. The 295 × 380 and 295 × 130 pixel conventions keep both files in clean proportion.
3. PNG masquerading as JPG. The portal reads the actual MIME type. A PNG renamed to .jpg gets caught immediately.
4. Signature in capital letters. Same as IBPS: Sarathi wants running-hand. Block capitals fail.
5. Light or yellow background.Sarathi's validator is colour-sensitive. Cream, beige, or pale yellow walls register as “non-white” and bounce. Use a plain white wall or tape an A4 sheet behind you.
State-by-state nuances
Most states accept whatever the central Sarathi portal accepts. Three caveats are worth knowing. Maharashtra runs a secondary validation on photo quality that occasionally rejects centrally-accepted files. If your application is bouncing despite passing Sarathi, retake the photo with better lighting before retrying. Tamil Nadu and Kerala RTOs are reported to be pickier about photo resolution at scrutiny, so use the higher end of the proportional range (around 295 × 380 px or larger) to be safe; there is no official pixel threshold in any state. Delhi and UP are the most lenient, and files that struggle on other state portals often clear here.
RTO photo: what happens at the counter
Here is the confusion behind the search “rto photo”: the photo printed on your actual driving licence card does not come from the print you carry, and in most states not from the file you uploaded either. At the driving licence stage, the RTO captures everything live at the counter (a webcam photo, fingerprints on a biometric scanner, and your signature on a digital pad) and writes that data onto the smart card. The Parivahan learner-licence FAQ itself notes that biometric details are submitted at the RTO during document scrutiny.
Physical passport-size prints still matter for the paper side of the file: one pastes into the photo space on Form 2, and states ask for a small stack besides: 2 copies in Delhi, 3 in Maharashtra and Punjab. So the honest answer to “how many photos for the RTO” is: it depends on your state, and the central form itself sets no number.
For the learner licence, there are two routes. The online route is where the 10–20 KB JPEG pair matters: sarathi.parivahan.gov.in → select your state → Upload Document → “Upload Photograph and Signature”, the four-step flow described in the official Parivahan FAQ. The counter route is the old-school one: filled Form 2, prints, and originals for verification, with the live capture handled by RTO staff.
One more wrinkle: the Parivahan FAQ states the photo-signature upload service “is available as per states customization”. Several states skip the upload step entirely because they pull your photo through Aadhaar eKYC or a faceless flow, or simply rely on the live capture at the RTO. If you cannot find the upload option for your state, that is by design, not a portal error.
Fixing photo and signature for Sarathi
The cleanest path: take a phone photo against a plain white wall, sign your name on plain A4 with a black ballpoint, and photograph the signature with the same phone. Then process both files inside the browser.
For exact pixel control, utiltap.com/image-resizer-pixels handles both files. Set 295 × 380 for the photo and 295 × 130 for the signature, output as JPEG. For the 20 KB cap, utiltap.com/resize-image-to-20kb takes either file and compresses to under 20 KB with a live preview, stopping just below the cap so quality stays as high as possible. Combine the two for a 90-second prep before opening Sarathi.
For the signature specifically, utiltap.com/signature-resizer detects the signature strokes automatically and crops around them, which beats manually cropping in a photo app; the auto-crop is tighter and produces a cleaner small-pixel JPEG. For finer control over the JPEG quality slider on the photo, utiltap.com/image-compressor lets you watch file size drop in real time. And if you want a passport-style centred crop instead of a tight head-only crop, utiltap.com/passport-photo-resizer-india outputs a 35 × 45 mm spec with face guides.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the photo and signature size for Sarathi Parivahan driving licence?
A: Photo: 35 × 45 mm (about 295 × 380 px), 10–20 KB JPEG. Signature: 35 × 15 mm (about 295 × 130 px), 10–20 KB JPEG. The 10–20 KB range is what the Sarathi upload screen enforces for both files; the official CMVR Form 2 itself only says “not more than 50 KB”, so staying under 20 KB satisfies both figures in every state.
Q: Why is my photo not uploading on parivahan.gov.in even though it is 18 KB?
A: Three common causes. The file is a PNG renamed to .jpg (the portal reads MIME, not extension). The JPEG was saved by a lightweight tool that omits standard JPEG markers, which Sarathi's strict header check refuses. Or the background reads as off-white rather than pure white on the portal's colour check. Exact pixel dimensions are not the culprit: the portal enforces format and file size, and no official pixel spec exists.
Q: Can I use my Aadhaar or PAN photo for Sarathi driving licence?
A: Technically yes if dimensions and size match, but it is usually unwise. Aadhaar photos are 600 × 600 px and need full resize, and PAN photos are even smaller. Taking a fresh photo specifically for Sarathi gives better results.
Q: What signature is accepted on Sarathi Parivahan?
A: A running-hand signature in black or blue ballpoint on plain white paper. Block capital letters or printed names are rejected. The signature you upload here is what appears on the printed driving licence card, so use the version you sign on bank documents.
Q: Does Sarathi accept a signature with full name written out?
A: Only if it is your normal signature. If your signature is your full name in cursive (e.g. “Manas Patidar” signed in running hand), that is accepted. A printed full name in block letters is not.
Q: What is the driving licence size in cm?
A: The photo for a driving licence application is 3.5 × 4.5 cm (35 × 45 mm), standard Indian passport size. That is the only dimension anchored in an official document: CMVR Form 2 on parivahan.gov.in provides a “Space for passport size photograph” and adds that the online-upload version should be no more than 50 KB. Pixel figures such as 420 × 525 are third-party conventions; no official parivahan document specifies pixels at all.
Q: What is the driving licence signature size for the online application?
A: A JPEG of 10–20 KB, the same file-size range the Sarathi upload screen applies to the photo. The 256 × 64 px landscape dimension quoted by resize tools is a third-party convention rather than an official parivahan spec, so treat it as a safe default, not a rule. Sign in black ink on white paper, crop tightly around the strokes, and keep the file under 20 KB.
Q: Is the RTO photo taken at the office, or do I upload it?
A: Both, at different stages. For the learner licence online application you upload a 10–20 KB JPEG on Sarathi (where your state offers the upload; some use Aadhaar eKYC instead). At the driving licence stage the RTO takes a live webcam photo plus fingerprints and a digital signature at the counter, and that live capture is what appears on the smart-card licence. Also carry your state's required 2–3 passport prints for the paper file.
Try the free tool
Resize photo and signature to exact Sarathi spec, then compress both under 20 KB, entirely in your browser.
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