An application form wants a personal photo at exact pixel dimensions. How do I make one from a phone picture?
Untick the ratio lock, type the width and height exactly as the form states, and choose 'Fill and crop' so your face is not stretched. The tool keeps the centered area of the photo at the required shape and tells you its size. If your face is not in the center, crop around it first, and if the form also caps the file size, compress afterwards.
Why the form rejects the phone photo as it is
Some application and job portals check a photo's pixel dimensions before accepting it, and a phone picture is usually 3024 by 4032 or close to it: far larger than required, and a different shape. Shrink it with the ratio lock on and you cannot hit both numbers; type both numbers with 'Stretch' and your face gets squashed or elongated, which is exactly what you do not want in an official photo.
An example with real numbers
A portrait phone photo of 3024 × 4032, and a form asking for, say, 413 × 531 px.
With 'Fill and crop' the tool uses a centered area of 3024 × 3888 px, removing only 72 px at the top and 72 px at the bottom.
It then scales that area to exactly 413 × 531, with no stretching.
The numbers are only an illustration. Type exactly what your form asks for: some portals want a square, others a rectangle, and the tool accepts any pair of sizes up to 12000 px per side.
The steps
- Take the photo against a plain light wall, with your face in the middle of the frame and some space above your head.
- Open the Image resizer and choose the photo.
- Untick 'Lock aspect ratio', then type the required width and height.
- Choose 'Fill and crop', read the note showing the centered area used, and check the preview.
- Save as JPEG, confirm in the table that the new dimensions match, and download.
If your face is not in the center
'Fill and crop' always keeps the middle and does not let you move the crop area. If your head is near the top or to one side, open the Image cropper first, enter the same ratio the form wants, such as 413:531, and move the frame until your face sits where it should. Then take the result back to the resizer and type the two numbers; the ratios now match, so nothing more is cut.
The file size cap
Many forms also set a limit in kilobytes next to the dimensions. A photo this small in pixels is usually light already, but if it is over the cap, lower the quality in the resizer itself or use the Image compressor; compression does not change the dimensions you set. All of this happens inside your browser, and your photo is not uploaded to any server.
Common questions
The form gives the size in centimeters, not pixels. What now?
Convert centimeters to pixels at the resolution the form states: divide by 2.54 and multiply by the dots per inch, then type the result in the tool.
Does the photo keep my phone and location details?
No. The tool redraws the image, so EXIF data such as location and phone model is not carried into the output file.