Image Resizer

How to resize an image

1. Add your images. Drop one or more images on the box above, or click to choose them. The first image’s size is filled in so you can see where you are starting from.
2. Choose how to resize. “By pixels” for an exact width and height, “By percentage” to scale everything by the same amount, or “By file size” to get under a KB limit.
3. Set the size. Type the numbers, or click a preset such as Instagram square or YouTube thumbnail. Each row in the list shows the size it will become.
4. Pick the format. Keep the original format, or save as JPG, PNG or WebP.
5. Resize and download. Press Resize, then download the images one at a time or all together as a ZIP. Each file name includes its new dimensions, like holiday-1080x1080.jpg.

A practical example

Pixels, KB and DPI: what the form is really asking for

Image size means three different things, and upload forms often mix them up:

• Pixel dimensions are the width and height, such as 600 × 600. They decide how big and how sharp the image looks on screen.
• File size, in KB or MB, is how much storage the file takes. It depends on the pixel dimensions and on how strongly the image is compressed.
• DPI is a note inside the file telling printers how many pixels to fit into an inch. It has no effect on screen, and two files with identical pixels look the same whatever their DPI says.

So when a form says “photo must be 200 × 230 pixels and under 50 KB”, use “By pixels” for the first part and “By file size” for the second. When it only gives a KB limit, the file-size mode handles everything in one step.

How the file-size mode works

A photo can be made smaller in two ways: compress it harder (lower JPG quality) or give it fewer pixels. Too much compression makes blocky smudges around edges; too few pixels makes a small, soft picture. The tool looks for the highest quality that fits your limit and only starts reducing the pixel size when quality would otherwise drop below about 60, the point where compression damage becomes obvious. The results in our tests:

If a photo is already under the limit, it is saved at high quality without shrinking. Some websites count 1 KB as 1000 bytes rather than 1024, so if a form rejects a file that should fit, set the target a few KB lower.

Changing the shape: crop, border or stretch

When you type a width and height with a different shape from your photo, say a 1080 × 1080 square from a landscape picture, something has to give. Untick “Keep proportions” (presets do this for you) and choose:

• Crop to fill fills the whole frame and trims the edges evenly. Best for profile photos and social posts.
• Fit with border shows the whole image and fills the leftover space with a colour you choose. Best for product photos and logos that must not be cut.
• Stretch forces the image into the frame, which distorts people and objects. Only use it for textures or patterns.

The presets cover common sizes. The US passport option is 600 × 600 pixels, the smallest size the US State Department accepts for digital passport photos (the maximum is 1200 × 1200). Other countries have different rules, so check the official requirements before you submit a photo.

What happens to your images

Resizing runs in your browser using its built-in image engine. Your photos are not uploaded; our server only receives the number of images in each batch for the daily free limit. Your originals are untouched, and each resized image is a new file.

Large reductions are done in several halving steps rather than one jump, which avoids the jagged edges you get when a 4000-pixel photo is squeezed straight down to 400. Photos taken sideways are turned upright automatically, and transparent areas are filled with white when saving as JPG, which does not support transparency. The camera’s hidden EXIF data, including GPS location, is not carried into the new file.

Limitations

• Up to 30 images per batch, 30 MB each, 20 batches per day, and a maximum output of 10,000 pixels per side.
• Enlarging an image makes it bigger, not more detailed. A 400-pixel photo stretched to 2000 pixels will look soft.
• File-size targets use JPG (or WebP). PNG cannot be squeezed to an exact KB figure without changing the image.
• The tool does not change the DPI value stored in a file. If a print shop asks for 300 DPI, what matters is having enough pixels: about 300 for every inch of the print.
• HEIC photos need converting first with the HEIC to JPG tool, and SVG files with the SVG to PNG converter. Animated GIFs keep only their first frame.

Troubleshooting

Image resizer questions

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