crop image
Cropped from the centre, so the shape changes and nothing stretches.
Profile pictures, product grids. Cropped from the centre, so the sides go rather than the middle.
The short answer
Cropping takes pixels away rather than squashing them, which is why a square crop of a wide photograph loses the sides instead of making everyone in it look narrow. The crop is taken from the centre: on 1000 × 500 that means 250 pixels off each side.
Crop to a square, a portrait, a widescreen frame or a link-preview shape. The crop takes pixels away rather than squashing them, which is the difference between a photograph and a funhouse mirror.
The formula
keep the largest rectangle of the chosen shape that fits, centred
Worked examples
- 1000 × 500 to 1:1
- 500 × 500
- 500 × 1000 to 1:1
- 500 × 500
- 800 × 450 to 16:9
- unchanged, it is already that shape
Reference table
| Shape | Ratio | Where it is expected |
|---|---|---|
| Square | 1:1 | Profile pictures, product grids |
| Portrait | 4:5 | Instagram's tallest feed post |
| Widescreen | 16:9 | Video thumbnails, slides |
| Photo | 3:2 | What most cameras shoot |
| Link preview | 1.91:1 | Open Graph and Twitter cards |
How to use it
- 01Drop the image inOr pick a file. Read by this tab, never uploaded.
- 02Choose a shapeThe largest rectangle of that shape that fits is taken from the centre.
- 03Save the PNGThe result is lossless, so nothing is thrown away beyond what you cropped off.
Also searched for
Searches that land here include crop image, crop photo online, crop image to square, 1:1 crop and crop for instagram.
Choosing a shape
Cropping and squashing are not the same
Forcing a wide photograph into a square by scaling makes everything in it narrower, which people notice on faces immediately even when they cannot say why. Cropping removes what does not fit instead. The subject stays the shape it was, and you lose the edges.
The shapes that actually get used
Square for avatars and product grids. Four by five for the tallest post an Instagram feed will show without cropping it further. Sixteen by nine for video thumbnails and slides. Three by two because it is what most cameras shoot. And 1.91:1, an odd-looking number that exists because link previews standardised on it.
Crop before you resize
A crop throws pixels away. If you resize first and then crop, you have spent quality scaling material you were about to discard. Crop to the shape, then scale the result to the width the layout needs.
Questions people ask
Why crop from the centre?
Because it is right more often than any other fixed rule, and because the alternative is dragging handles, which is a slower interaction than most people want for making a square avatar. Where the subject is off to one side, crop in an editor: this is for the common case.
Should I crop or resize?
Resize when you want the same picture smaller. Crop when you want a different shape. Doing both is normal: crop to the shape the layout needs, then resize to the pixel width it needs, in that order, so the resize is working on the pixels you are actually keeping.
What is the 1.91:1 shape for?
Link previews. It is the ratio Facebook, LinkedIn and most Open Graph consumers crop to, so an image made at that shape survives being shared without losing its edges or its text. Twitter cards use it too for the large-image layout.