Free Japan Driver's License Photo Online — Make a 24×30 mm Light Blue Photo

Need a Japan driver's licence photo? Upload a recent portrait and IDPhotoBy sizes and crops it to Japan's official driver's licence standard — a 24 × 30 mm (2.4 × 3 cm) photo with the front, upper-body framing the rules require — and checks it against the plain single-colour background rule, which a soft light blue fits well, with Japan and the driver's licence document already selected. It is free — no payment required.

This is the domestic Japanese driver's licence photo (24 × 30 mm) — not the international driving permit, which is a different size. The licence photo is a bring-in (持参写真) photo: you prepare and print it, then submit it at the licence centre or by post. IDPhotoBy gives you a correctly sized, print-ready file plus a printable sheet, so you can print it on photo paper and take it in.

According to the official Japan driver's licence photo requirements — set by the prefectural public safety commission (都道府県公安委員会) through the prefectural police, under national law (道路交通法施行規則第17条第2項第10号) — your photo must meet the checklist below. Compare your photo against these before you apply.

• Size 24 × 30 mm — 30 mm tall by 24 mm wide (3.0 cm × 2.4 cm), borderless.
• Plain single-colour background — no scenery, pattern, wood-grain or shadow. The colour must not be an extreme colour such as red or black, and must contrast with you so your outline stays clear.
• Taken within the last 6 months — a current photo that looks like you today.
• Front view, bareheaded — face the camera straight on, with no hat (headwear is allowed only for religious or medical reasons where your face outline stays identifiable).
• Upper-body framing (上三分身) — roughly chest up, with about 2–3 mm of space above your head. Not a face-only close-up, and not so far away that your head is tiny.
• Neutral expression — mouth closed and eyes open; no laughing or wide-open mouth.
• Colour or black-and-white — both are accepted.

The Japan driver's licence photo size is 24 × 30 mm — that is 2.4 cm wide by 3.0 cm tall, in a portrait (taller than wide) frame, borderless.

Within that frame the photo has to read as upper-body (上三分身) — roughly from the chest up — with about 2–3 mm of empty space above your head. IDPhotoBy positions your head and shoulders to that upper-body proportion and centres you, so the result is neither a face-only close-up (a common rejection) nor a tiny, far-away head. You get a print-ready file at the correct 24 × 30 mm size plus a printable sheet.

The rules do not name one required colour — they require a plain single-colour background (無背景・単色) that is not an extreme colour such as red or black and that contrasts with you so your outline stays clear. A soft light blue fits that rule well: it is a plain, non-extreme colour that separates your hair and shoulders cleanly from the background, and it is a common background for Japanese ID-photo booths.

IDPhotoBy checks your photo against that plain single-colour-background requirement and formats it to the spec, making sure your photo sits on the plain, non-extreme, contrasting single-colour background the rules ask for — a soft light blue being one colour that fits. If you prefer, a plain white or light grey wall satisfies the same rule — the requirement is a plain, non-extreme, contrasting colour, not one specific shade.

• Upload a recent, well-lit portrait using the tool on this page — nothing to install, and Japan + driver's licence are already selected.
• IDPhotoBy resizes and crops your photo to 24 × 30 mm with the front, upper-body framing, and checks it meets the plain single-colour-background requirement.
• Preview the result — check the head size and the ~2–3 mm gap above your head, the plain background, and that your face is sharp, evenly lit and neutral.
• Download the finished photo, free, then print it on photo paper (or use a photo booth's print) to bring to the licence centre.

The free Japan driver's licence photo maker doubles as a size checker and resizer: it takes a photo you already have — including a smartphone selfie — and formats it to the 24 × 30 mm size and upper-body crop the licence expects. It runs online in your browser, so making your driver's licence photo online works from anywhere — handy for residents and foreign residents applying for or renewing a Japanese licence. A registered ID photo booth (証明写真機) or a photo studio is the offline alternative.

IDPhotoBy sizes, crops and positions the photo you upload so it matches the 24 × 30 mm Japan driver's licence standard, and checks it against the plain single-colour-background requirement the rules set. It does not retouch, beautify, slim or otherwise edit your face — your face is left exactly as it is.

That matters here: the licence standard states that composite, edited or over-corrected photos are not accepted. So we only handle size, crop and position, and check the plain background, and we make no acceptance promise. No online tool can promise a photo will be accepted — the file is prepared to the published requirements, and the prefectural licence centre makes the final decision. What you get is a correctly sized, correctly cropped photo, with no paid download or “studio” upsell.

The Japanese driver's licence photo is a bring-in (持参写真) photo — you submit a printed photo at the licence centre or by post, rather than uploading it to an online application. Two things the online-tool competitors tend to skip:

• Print on genuine photo paper. The standard expects a photo printed on real photo paper, not plain office paper. Use the print-ready file or the printable sheet at a photo shop, a convenience-store print kiosk, or a home photo printer.
• Write your name and the date the photo was taken on the back. The law asks for your name and the shooting date on the reverse of the bring-in photo.

If you would rather not prepare your own, a registered ID photo booth (証明写真機) at or near the licence centre is accepted too.

• A busy, patterned or extreme-colour background. Scenery, a wall pattern, wood-grain, a shadow, or a strong red or black backdrop are rejected — use a plain, non-extreme, contrasting colour.
• A face-only close-up. Filling the frame with your face (顔しか写っていない) is a common rejection; the photo must be upper-body with a small gap above your head.
• Too small or too far away. If your head is tiny in the frame it is also rejected.
• Mouth open or laughing. Keep a neutral expression with your mouth closed and eyes open.
• Glasses that hide your eyes or cause glare. Frames or reflections that obscure your eyes cause rejections — take the photo without glare, or without glasses.
• An edited or composited photo. Retouched, over-corrected or composite images are not accepted — submit a straight photo of your face.

Requirements can vary slightly by prefecture and can change — check your prefectural police (public safety commission) guidance and photo examples before you submit, as the final authority on size, background, framing and expression.