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Crop

Crop an image to the ratio they asked for.

Square, 4:5, 16:9 or an exact rectangle in pixels. Drag the box, or type the numbers, and keep every pixel that survives.

Drag or typeNo model to downloadNothing uploaded

The short answer

To crop an image, add the photo, pick a ratio or drag the crop box, and download the result. A ratio chip takes the largest rectangle of that shape the photo can hold, and the anchor control decides which part of the frame it keeps. The crop runs in this browser tab on your own device, at full resolution, with nothing uploaded.

Crop a photo now

Pick a ratio and the box appears over the picture. Switch to exact numbers when a spec is written in pixels, and drag the corners to place it by eye.

Before

Presets

Ratio

Add a photo first.

Checking what this device can do. Nothing is uploaded.

Download

Add a photo and run the tool. The download appears here.

Try another tool on the same photo

Remove backgroundResize imageCompress imageConvert imageBlur backgroundChange backgroundTransparent backgroundBatch edit

The short version

What to know before you start

Cropping is the only edit that changes what the photograph is about. Everything else in this toolbox changes how the file is stored; a crop changes the subject, the balance and what the eye lands on first. That is worth two minutes of attention rather than a reflexive drag to square.

The mechanical half is simple. A ratio is a shape, and the largest rectangle of that shape inside your photo is fixed the moment you choose it. The only remaining question is where it sits, which is what the anchor control answers, and it is the question most croppers quietly answer for you by always choosing the centre.

  • A ratio decides the shape, an anchor decides the subject

    Once you pick 4:5 the size of the crop is settled. What is still open is which part of the frame survives, and on a portrait that is the difference between a headshot and a picture of a chin.

  • Crop early, resize last

    Frame the picture first, then set the final dimensions. Doing it the other way round means resampling pixels you are about to throw away, which costs quality for nothing.

  • The pixels that remain are untouched

    A crop is a cut, not a rescale. Nothing that survives is resampled, so a crop of a sharp photo is a sharp photo. What falls is total resolution, so check the output size against any minimum.

  • Metadata does not survive

    Re-encoding from a canvas drops EXIF, which takes the GPS coordinates and the camera serial with it. That is usually what you want before a photo goes public, and it is worth knowing when it is not.

  • Platform ratios are fewer than they look

    Almost every destination wants one of six shapes: square, 4:5, 9:16, 16:9, 3:2 or 2:3. Learn which one your channel uses and the decision disappears.

  • Exact numbers beat eyeballing a spec

    When a rule is written in pixels rather than in a ratio, type it. Dragging to 1080 by 1350 by eye takes longer and lands close rather than right.

Step by step

How do you crop an image?

The whole thing happens in this page, on your own device, with no account and no upload.

  1. 1

    Add the photo

    Drag a file onto the panel, click to browse, or paste an image from the clipboard. Camera rotation is applied before anything else, so the picture is the right way up before you frame it.

  2. 2

    Choose the ratio

    Pick a chip: square for a listing or an avatar, 4:5 for a feed post, 16:9 for a banner, 3:2 for a print. The crop box appears over the picture at the largest size that shape allows.

  3. 3

    Place it

    Use the anchor control to move the box to the top, the bottom or a corner. For a portrait, the top is usually right, because that is where the head is.

  4. 4

    Or type exact numbers

    Press the button that switches to numbers and set the left, top, width and height in pixels. The box on screen and the rectangle the tool cuts are the same rectangle, so what you see is what you get.

  5. 5

    Run it and download

    Press the crop button. The result appears on the plate with its exact dimensions, and the download button saves it straight to your device.

Which aspect ratio should you crop to?

Start from where the picture is going. A marketplace listing wants a square, because the grid is a square and anything else gets letterboxed by the platform on your behalf, usually badly. A feed post wants 4:5, which is the tallest shape the layout will show without cropping it again. A story or a short-video cover wants 9:16.

Print is the exception, and it trips people up because the ratios are physical. A six by four inch print is 3:2, and a photo cropped to square will either be trimmed by the lab or come back with white borders. Choose the print ratio before you send the file, not after the proof arrives.

If two destinations want two shapes, crop twice from the original rather than cropping a crop. Each pass throws pixels away permanently, and the second pass is working from less than the first one had.

Why does the anchor matter more than the ratio?

Because a centred crop assumes the subject is in the middle, and photographs are rarely composed that way. A standing person photographed at full height has their face in the top third; a square centred crop of that frame is a picture of a torso. Anchoring to the top fixes it in one click.

The same applies in reverse to a product on a surface. The interesting part is usually low in the frame, and a top anchor gives you a square of ceiling. Nine positions cover the common cases, and the exact-numbers mode covers the rest.

If you are cropping a batch of photographs shot the same way, an anchored ratio crop is the setting to reach for: the batch tool applies the same ratio and the same anchor to every file, which is exactly right for a set shot on a tripod and exactly wrong for a mixed folder.

Does cropping lose quality?

Not in the way resizing can. A crop selects a rectangle and copies it, so the pixels that make it into the output are the pixels the camera recorded. There is no resampling and no interpolation.

What you do lose is total resolution, and that is the number to watch. Cropping a 12 megapixel photo to a tight square can leave you with 3 megapixels, which is fine for a feed and short of what a marketplace zoom feature wants. The readout under the plate gives the output dimensions before you commit.

One re-encode does happen: the crop is written out as a new file, so a JPEG in gives a JPEG out through one generation of compression. It is a small cost, and it is why cropping the original once beats cropping an export twice.

What the crop tool accepts, produces and requires
PropertyDetail
Input formatsJPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, GIF, BMP. HEIC where the browser can decode it.
Output formatsThe same format as the input, or JPG, PNG, WebP and AVIF on request.
Ratio presets1:1, 4:5, 3:4, 2:3, 3:2, 4:3, 16:9, 9:16, and free.
AnchorsCentre, top, bottom, left, right and the four corners.
Exact modeLeft, top, width and height in source pixels, clamped to the image.
TransparencyPreserved when the output format has an alpha channel.
Model downloadNone. This is a canvas operation and runs on the first click.
Where it runsIn this browser tab, on your device, in a background thread.
Export limitsFull resolution, no watermark, no credit counter.

Slide the table sideways to see every column.

Worth avoiding

Where this usually goes wrong

  • Cropping to square by reflex

    Square is right for a listing grid and wrong for almost everything else. Check where the picture is going before you pick the shape, because the crop is the one edit you cannot undo later.

  • Leaving the anchor centred on a portrait

    The face is in the top third of most standing shots. A centred square crop takes the middle, which is the part with the least information in it.

  • Cropping a crop

    Every pass discards pixels for good. Go back to the original and cut once for each destination rather than trimming an export you already trimmed.

  • Cropping past a platform minimum

    A tight crop of a big photo can still land under a marketplace's pixel floor. Read the output dimensions in the readout, not the megapixel count of the original.

  • Cropping before you have finished editing

    Background work, colour and object removal all behave better with the full frame available. Crop last, or at least crop after the edits that read the whole picture.

  • Assuming print ratios match screen ratios

    A six by four print is 3:2 and a square is not. Send the lab the ratio it prints, or accept that somebody else will decide what gets trimmed.

Questions

What people ask about this tool

Every answer is in the page source, so a reader and an answer engine get the same words.

See all tools
How do I crop an image to an exact size?

Pick a ratio chip and the tool takes the largest rectangle of that shape the photo can hold, then place it with the anchor control. For pixel-exact work, press the button that switches to numbers and type the left, top, width and height directly. The readout under the plate shows the output size before you download.

What is the difference between cropping and resizing?

Cropping throws pixels away to change the framing. Resizing keeps the whole picture and changes how many pixels describe it. If the subject is too small in the frame, crop. If the file is the wrong dimensions for an upload rule, resize.

Does cropping reduce quality?

The pixels that survive are untouched, so what is left is exactly as sharp as it was. What you lose is resolution overall, because a crop is a smaller picture. Crop from the largest original you have, and check the output dimensions against whatever minimum the destination sets.

What aspect ratio should I use?

Square for marketplace listings and profile pictures, 4:5 for a feed post that should take up the most vertical space, 9:16 for stories and short video covers, 16:9 for banners and thumbnails, and 3:2 or 2:3 for anything going to a print lab. The chips above cover all of those.

Can I crop a photo without losing the edges I want?

Use the anchor control. A centred crop is the default, but a portrait usually wants the top so the ratio eats the floor rather than the head, and a product on a table often wants the bottom. If none of the nine anchors frame it correctly, switch to exact numbers and place the rectangle yourself.

Does cropping remove EXIF data and location?

Yes, as a side effect. The photo is decoded to pixels and re-encoded from the canvas, so camera metadata, timestamps and GPS coordinates do not survive the trip. The rotation tag is read first and applied to the pixels, so the picture still comes out the right way up.

Is my photo uploaded while I crop it?

No. The file is read into this tab's memory, drawn onto a canvas, and written back out as a download. Nothing is transmitted, so the crop works with the connection off once the page has loaded.

Framed. Now fit the spec.

Set the exact pixel dimensions, hit a file size limit, or change the format. Every tool in the studio runs on your device and keeps the resolution you brought.

Resize the cropHow on-device processing works

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