This bird is long with a wingspan of . It weighs , with the nominate race averaging and G. b. meridionalis of Africa averaging . In Eurasia, vultures found around the Himalayas tend to be slightly larger than those from other mountain ranges. Females are slightly larger than males. It is essentially unmistakable with other vultures or indeed other birds in flight due to its long, narrow wings, with the wing chord measuring , and long, wedge-shaped tail, which measures in length. The tail is longer than the width of the wing. The tarsus is relatively small for the bird's size, at . The proportions of the species have been compared to a falcon, scaled to an enormous size.