In this letter, a compact and high selectivity triple‐band dual‐mode microstrip bandpass filter (BPF) is proposed using two short‐circuited stub‐loaded stepped‐impedance resonators (SIRs), which are same type but different size, that is, the SIR I and the SIR II with smaller size. The SIR I is designed to operate at the first and third passbands and the SIR II at the second passband. The passband frequencies can be conveniently tuned to desired values. Because of the intrinsic characteristics of the SIRs and the source–load coupling, six transmission zeros can be created to improve the selectivity of the triple‐band BPF. Finally, a filter prototype located at 1.57 (GPS application), 2.4, and 5.2 GHz (WLAN application) is designed, fabricated, and measured. The simulated and measured results are presented and an excellent agreement is obtained. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:719–721, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26654