ID Card Size: Standard Dimensions in CM, MM, Inches & Pixels

What size is an ID card in cm?

A standard ID card is 8.56 cm wide and 5.40 cm tall (85.6 × 54 mm). In inches, that is 3.375 × 2.125 in. Turned vertically (portrait), the same card is 5.40 cm wide and 8.56 cm tall.

ID card size in pixels (72, 96, 150, 300 and 600 DPI)

Pixels depend on the resolution (DPI). For printing an ID card, use 300 DPI: 1011 × 638 pixels for a horizontal card, or 638 × 1011 pixels for a vertical one. At 600 DPI it is 2022 × 1275 pixels.

How it's calculated: pixels = inches × DPI. The width is 85.60 mm ÷ 25.4 = 3.370 in, and 3.370 × 300 = 1011 px. The height is 2.125 in × 300 = 637.5, rounded to 638 px.

You'll also see numbers like 640 × 480 or 552 × 368 px online. Those aren't card sizes. 640 × 480 is an old screen resolution with a 4:3 shape, far too tall for a card. Other small differences come from rounding: start from 3.375 in instead of 3.370 in and you get 1013 × 638 px, two pixels wider, which makes no visible difference in print. What matters is the shape, about 1.585 : 1.

You don't have to do the math yourself. Our converter can resize your photo to exactly 1011 × 638 px at 300 DPI. For any other dimension, you can set a custom size in pixels.

Vertical (portrait) vs horizontal ID card size

A vertical ID card is the same card turned on its side: 5.40 × 8.56 cm (2.125 × 3.375 in), or 638 × 1011 px at 300 DPI. The size never changes; only the orientation does.

Horizontal is the usual layout for national IDs, bank cards and driving licences. Vertical cards are popular for office badges and school IDs worn on a lanyard, because a slot punched in the short edge lets the card hang straight. In the United States, the AAMVA card design standard uses the vertical format for drivers under 21, so an under-21 licence can be recognised at a glance.

Tip: if your design is vertical, set the page to 54 × 85.6 mm from the start. Rotating a finished horizontal design later usually squeezes the photo and text.

PVC card and ATM card size

A PVC card and an ATM card are the same size as a standard ID card: 85.6 × 54 mm (8.56 × 5.40 cm, 3.375 × 2.125 in), 0.76 mm thick, with 3.18 mm rounded corners. Card makers call this blank CR80.

“PVC” describes the material, not the size. Shops that print PVC copies of ID cards use CR80 blanks, so the card fits any wallet slot or holder made for bank cards. Debit and credit cards use the same ID-1 size for the same reason: one size works in every ATM and card reader.

If you're preparing an image for a PVC card, make it 1011 × 638 px at 300 DPI and keep names and numbers at least 3 mm from the edges, so nothing is lost if the print shifts slightly.

CR80 vs CR79 vs CR100: which card size do you need?

CR80 is the standard ID card size (85.6 × 54 mm). CR79 is slightly smaller, about 84 × 52 mm, and is used for adhesive-backed cards that stick onto other cards. CR100 is larger, about 98.6 × 66.8 mm, and is used for oversized badges.

CR79 and CR100 are card-industry names, not part of ISO/IEC 7810, so their exact sizes vary by 1–2 mm between suppliers. If you're not using CR80, check the dimensions printed on your card stock before you design.

ID card sizes by country

Most government ID cards issued today use the standard ID-1 size, 85.6 × 54 mm. Where an issuer publishes the size, we link to it; where it doesn't, we say so instead of guessing.

“ID size” for photos: 1x1, 2x2 and passport size

In the Philippines and some other countries, “ID size” often means the size of an ID picture, not the card. The common sizes are 1x1 (2.54 × 2.54 cm), 2x2 (5.08 × 5.08 cm) and passport size (3.5 × 4.5 cm).

Always follow the exact rule of the office asking for the photo, because background colour and head size requirements differ. You can make a 3.5 × 4.5 cm passport photo or a 2 × 2 inch photo with our free presets.

What size is the photo on an ID card?

There is no single worldwide size for the photo printed on an ID card; each issuer sets its own layout. For a card you design yourself, a photo area of about 2.5 × 3.2 cm fits well on a horizontal card.

That 2.5 × 3.2 cm area has the same shape as a 3.5 × 4.5 cm passport photo (7 : 9), so you can scale a passport photo down without cropping the face. On a vertical card, about 3 × 3.85 cm keeps the same shape and leaves room for the name below.

If an online form asks you to upload the photo, its own pixel and file-size limits come first. Many portals cap uploads at 50–100 KB; you can compress the photo under 100 KB without changing its dimensions.

How to set ID card size in Word, Canva and Photoshop

Use 85.6 × 54 mm (8.56 × 5.4 cm) as the page or shape size in any design app, and 300 pixels per inch when the app asks for a resolution.

• Microsoft Word: insert your picture, open Picture Format → Size, and set the height to 5.4 cm and the width to 8.56 cm. If Word changes one value when you type the other, the picture isn't in card proportions yet; crop it first, or prepare it at 1011 × 638 px before inserting.
• Canva: choose Create a design → Custom size, switch the unit to mm, and enter 85.6 × 54.
• Photoshop: File → New, width 85.6 mm, height 54 mm, resolution 300 pixels/inch. Photoshop creates a 1011 × 638 px canvas.
• CorelDRAW: set the page size to 85.6 × 54 mm (or 54 × 85.6 mm for a vertical card).

If you're working from a photo rather than a design file, it's often quicker to resize the image in centimetres (or resize it in mm to type 85.6 × 54 directly) and then drop it into your template.

How to print an ID card at the exact size

Print a 300 DPI image (1011 × 638 px) with the printer scale set to 100% or “Actual size”. Never use “Fit to page”, which enlarges or shrinks the card.

1. Prepare the image at 300 DPI. Our ID card size converter outputs 1011 × 638 px and saves the 300 DPI value in the JPG or PNG file, so printers read the right physical size.
2. Turn off scaling. In the print dialog, choose “Actual size” or Scale 100%. Untick options like “Fit to page”, “Shrink oversized pages” or “Fit picture to frame”.
3. Fit several cards on one sheet. An A4 page is 21 × 29.7 cm, so up to 10 cards fit in a 2 × 5 grid (17.12 × 27 cm) with room left for cutting. See A4 size in pixels if you're building the sheet as an image.
4. Check the first print with a ruler. The card should measure 8.5–8.6 cm wide. If it's smaller, scaling is still switched on somewhere.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and how we checked these numbers

Card sizes come from the standards and issuers listed below. Pixel sizes are calculated as inches × DPI (1 inch = 25.4 mm), rounded to the nearest pixel, using the ISO width of 85.60 mm and the height of 2.125 in. Where an issuer doesn't publish a size, the table says so.

• ISO/IEC 7810:2019, Identification cards: Physical characteristics (ID-1 format).
• Regulation (EU) 2019/1157, Article 3: identity cards produced in ID-1 format.
• AAMVA DL/ID Card Design Standard (2020), Annex A.3 (ID-1 dimensions) and A.6 (vertical format for under-21 drivers).
• UIDAI myAadhaar portal, where the Aadhaar PVC card is ordered.
• Philippine Statistics Authority public advisory (September 11, 2024), on printing the Digital National ID on PVC cards.