Whether it's cutting a photo down to just your face for a profile picture, or resizing a banner to fit a website's exact dimensions, cropping and resizing are the two most common image edits — and the two easiest to get wrong if done by eye without a plan.
Cropping vs Resizing: Not the Same Thing
- Cropping removes part of the image, changing what's shown and often the shape (aspect ratio).
- Resizing changes the overall pixel dimensions — making the whole image bigger or smaller — without cutting anything out.
Often you do both: crop to the right composition, then resize to the exact pixel dimensions a form or platform requires.
How to Crop and Resize
- Open the Image Editor.
- Upload your image.
- Crop to the area you want, adjusting the frame to include what matters and exclude what doesn't.
- Resize to the target dimensions if you have specific pixel requirements.
- Download the result.
Getting the Aspect Ratio Right
Distorted, stretched-looking images almost always come from resizing without keeping the original proportions. The Aspect Ratio Calculator helps you work out the correct height for a given width (or vice versa) so nothing looks squashed.
| Common ratio | Typical use |
|---|---|
| 1:1 (square) | Profile photos, some social posts |
| 4:3 | Older photos, some product images |
| 3:2 | Standard photo prints |
| 16:9 | Video thumbnails, website banners |
| 3:4 (portrait) | Passport-style photos |
Cropping for Different Purposes
- Profile photo: crop to a square, centred on the face, with a little space above the head.
- Website banner: crop wide (16:9 or wider) to match the design's shape.
- Passport-style photo: crop to the exact ratio the form specifies — often close to 3:4 — with the face taking up a defined portion of the frame.
- Product photo: crop tightly around the product with consistent margins across a catalogue.
Resizing Down vs Resizing Up
Reducing an image's dimensions (downsizing) keeps it sharp, since you're simply using fewer of the pixels that were already there. Enlarging an image (upsizing) has to invent new pixel data, which is why enlarged images often look soft — a tool like Image Enhancer can improve this somewhat, but starting from a larger original is always better when you have the choice.
After Cropping and Resizing
- Check the file size. If it's still large for your purpose, run it through Image Compress.
- Preview at actual size. A crop that looks fine zoomed in on your screen may look different once displayed at its real intended size.
- Keep the original. Save the uncropped photo separately in case you need a different crop later.
For getting a specific file size after cropping, see how to compress a photo under 100 KB, and for social media specifically, image size guide for social media posts.
