Image resizer: questions and guides
Each guide here answers one question with a practical example, then takes you to the tool to try it yourself. Guides: 29.
Questions
- How to resize an image without distorting itHow to change an image's width and height without stretching or squashing it, the difference between contain and cover, and why enlarging adds no detail.
- How do I turn a rectangular product photo into a square with white space, without cutting anything off?Turn a rectangular product photo into a full square with white bands instead of cropping, with the exact numbers for what happens to the picture.
- How do I post a landscape photo as a 1080x1350 portrait on Instagram?Turning a landscape photo into a 1080x1350 portrait post: what 'Fill and crop' removes and what 'Fit inside' adds, with real numbers from the resizer.
- How do I place a square product photo on a 1080x1920 story background in my brand color?Place a square product photo in the middle of a 1080x1920 story frame filled with your brand color, leaving equal space above and below for your text.
- PageSpeed Insights says 'properly size images'. How do I fix it?What the 'Properly size images' audit in PageSpeed Insights means, how to find the width an image is really displayed at, and how to resize the file to it.
- Which format should I save my transparent logo in when I shrink it to 300 px wide?Shrink a transparent logo to 300 px wide and keep the transparency: how Original format, PNG, WebP and JPEG treat it, and the warning the tool gives.
- An application form wants a personal photo at exact pixel dimensions. How do I make one from a phone picture?An application form wants a personal photo at an exact width and height in pixels? Untick the ratio lock, type both numbers and use 'Fill and crop' so nothing stretches.
- How do I shrink an image by 50 percent, and how much smaller will the file get?The resizer works in pixels, not percentages, so how do you halve an image? And why does halving the width and height leave only a quarter of the pixels?
- I made a PNG photo smaller in dimensions, but the file barely shrank or even grew. Why?Usually it is the save format: 'Original format' keeps a photograph as a heavy PNG. Switch to JPEG or WebP and watch the size in the results table.
- How do I prepare the image that shows when my store link is shared on WhatsApp or Facebook?Make a wide link preview image from a square product photo: what 'Fill and crop' keeps at 1200x628, and how to point your Open Graph tags at it.
- How do I resize a banner for my Salla storefront without stretching it?A wide banner keeps only a thin strip of a normal photo. How to use the size your Salla theme asks for, avoid stretching with 'Fill and crop', and pick a photo.
- My Shopify collection grid looks uneven because product images have different shapes. How do I make them consistent?Mixed portrait, square and landscape photos make collection rows jump. Pick one size, one fit mode and one background color, and apply them image by image.
- How many pixels do I need to print a photo at 10x15 cm and 300 DPI?Turn a print size in centimeters into pixels: 10x15 cm at 300 DPI needs about 1181x1772 px. Then resize your photo to it without stretching.
- My phone photos are 4000 px wide. What width should I use for my website or blog?Choose an image width by where it appears: a full-width banner, a photo inside an article, or a thumbnail. Worked sizes from one phone photo.
- Why won't the resizer let me make an image 15000 px wide?The output has two limits: 12000 px per side and 50 megapixels overall. How to tell which one you hit, and what to do with large print files like roll-up banners.
- Are my photos sent to a server when I resize them here?Where the processing happens when you resize an image here, how to check it yourself, and which hidden data, like location and phone model, stays out of the output.
- My logo gets cut off at the edges in my WhatsApp Business profile picture. How do I fix it?Profile pictures show inside a circle, hiding the corners of a square. How to add a margin around a wide logo in two resizer passes, without enlarging it.
- How do I make a 1280x720 YouTube thumbnail from a portrait photo?A 16:9 frame from a portrait photo: a video frame converts with nothing lost, but a portrait photo keeps only a middle band and may need enlarging. Numbers and options.
- How do I set every image to 800 px tall and let the width adjust itself?Type the height instead of the width with the ratio lock on, and each image gets a width from its own shape. Why widths differ, and when you need a fixed size.
- My product photo has a light gray backdrop, not white. What padding color should I choose so the edges do not show?When the added bands differ from your photo's backdrop, a visible seam appears. Take the backdrop color from the photo's own edge and use it as the background color.
- After resizing, do I still need to run the image through the compressor?The resizer saves JPEG and WebP at the quality you choose and shows the result's size. When that is enough, when the compressor helps, and why one save beats two.
- Fill and crop cut off the top of my product. How do I choose which part stays?'Fill and crop' always keeps the middle, so a product near the top or side gets cut. The fix: crop at the same ratio in the cropper first, then resize.
- The image in my email newsletter shows up huge and cut off for some readers. How should I size it?Email layouts are narrow, and some mail clients show an image at its real pixel size. Resize the file to your template width, with a 2x copy for sharp screens.
- Resizing a very large image fails or freezes on my phone. Why?A big canvas needs a lot of memory, and phones give the browser far less than computers do. Why a size the tool accepts can still fail on your phone, and what to do.
- I shrank a long screenshot and the text became unreadable. Why, and how do I avoid it?Shrinking a screenshot shrinks the letters by the same factor, pushing text below a readable size. The numbers behind it, and why cropping before shrinking works better.
- Should I export website images at 2x the displayed size for Retina screens?A 2x image looks sharper on high-density screens, but it is four times the pixels. Which images deserve it, and how to prepare both copies and put them on a page.
- Does making an image smaller reduce its quality, and can I scale it back up later?Shrinking gives a sharp picture at its new size, but the removed pixels are gone. Why enlarging later cannot restore detail, and how to organize originals and copies.
- Why did white bars appear above and below my image after resizing, and how do I get rid of them?The default 'Fit inside' mode adds bands whenever the size you type has a different shape from the picture. How to get rid of them with the ratio lock or 'Fill and crop'.
- How can I find out the pixel dimensions of an image before uploading it?Open the image in the resizer and its width, height, file size and format show at once, with nothing changed or downloaded. Plus why other apps may show the size swapped.