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A photo that looks perfect on your phone is suddenly wrong everywhere else: too wide for a profile picture, too tall for a thumbnail, with the head cut off in the preview. The fix is a crop, and the one thing a good crop must never do is stretch. The Image Cropper handles the shape, the zoom and the position for you. This guide explains how it decides what to keep, so you can predict the result before you press save.
How to crop a photo, step by step
- Open the Image Cropper and choose a photo. JPG, PNG, WEBP and GIF are accepted, and it stays on your device.
- Choose the Aspect ratio from the list. The preview updates straight away.
- Move the Zoom slider to the right if you want to get closer to your subject. 100% shows the largest possible crop. 400% shows a quarter of the width and a quarter of the height.
- Slide Horizontal position and Vertical position from 0 to 100 until your subject sits where you want. 50 is the centre.
- Press the download button. The file is named
cropped-imageand keeps your photo’s type: a JPG stays a JPG, a WEBP stays a WEBP, and anything else is saved as a PNG.
How the crop area is chosen
Understanding this removes all the guesswork. The cropper takes the shape you picked and finds the biggest rectangle of that shape that fits inside your photo. If the shape is wider than the photo, it uses the full width and trims the height. If the shape is taller, it uses the full height and trims the width. Then the zoom divides that rectangle’s width and height, which makes it smaller and closer in. The two position sliders decide where the rectangle sits in the space that is left over.
- 1Pick a shapeFor example 16:9. “Original ratio” keeps the shape your photo already has.
- 2Largest fitThe biggest 16:9 rectangle that fits inside the photo is found. On a 4000 × 3000 photo it is 4000 × 2250.
- 3Zoom inAt 200% the width and height are halved, so you get 2000 × 1125, sharper detail on a smaller part.
- 4Slide into placePosition 0 is the left or top edge, 100 is the right or bottom edge, and 50 is centred.
- 5SaveExactly those pixels are saved. Nothing is stretched, and nothing is resized.
“Original ratio” does not give you a free crop. It keeps your photo’s own shape, so it is only useful together with Zoom.
How much of the photo you keep at each ratio
Every crop throws something away, and the amount depends on how far the new shape is from the old one. Here is what happens to a typical landscape photo of 4000 × 3000 pixels, at 100% zoom.
| Ratio | Cropped size (px) | Share of the photo kept | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 4000 × 3000 | 100% | Zoom in without changing shape |
| 4:3 | 4000 × 3000 | 100% | This photo is already 4:3 |
| 3:2 | 4000 × 2667 | 89% | Print-style landscape |
| 1:1 | 3000 × 3000 | 75% | Profile pictures, square posts |
| 16:9 | 4000 × 2250 | 75% | YouTube thumbnails, slides, banners |
| 3:4 | 2250 × 3000 | 56% | Portrait posts |
| 2:3 | 2000 × 3000 | 50% | Portrait print, Pinterest-style |
| 9:16 | 1688 × 3000 | 42% | Stories, Reels, Shorts, wallpapers |
Sizes are rounded to the nearest pixel. The same maths works for any photo. A typical 12-megapixel phone photo (4032 × 3024) gives a 3024 × 3024 square and a 4032 × 2268 16:9 frame.
Going from a wide photo to a tall 9:16 frame throws away more than half of it. If the subject is wide, take the photo in the shape you will need.
For more on shapes and how they relate, the guide to aspect ratios shows common ratios drawn to scale and explains why cropping 16:9 to 9:16 keeps only about a third of the width.
Zoom and position: framing the part you want
Zoom is how you decide how tight the shot is. At 100% you get the whole largest crop. At 200% you get half the width and half the height, so a face fills the frame instead of a whole group. At 400% you are at a quarter of each side, and the saved picture will look soft if the photo started small, because those few pixels are being shown large.
| Setting (1:1 on a 4000 × 3000 photo) | Crop size | Where it starts from the left edge |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom 100%, horizontal 0 | 3000 × 3000 | 0 px (the left side) |
| Zoom 100%, horizontal 50 | 3000 × 3000 | 500 px (centred) |
| Zoom 100%, horizontal 100 | 3000 × 3000 | 1000 px (the right side) |
| Zoom 200%, horizontal 50, vertical 50 | 1500 × 1500 | 1250 px from the left, 750 px from the top |
| Zoom 400%, horizontal 50, vertical 50 | 750 × 750 | 1625 px from the left, 1125 px from the top |
At 100% zoom a 1:1 crop of a landscape photo can only slide sideways, because it already uses the full height. The vertical slider does nothing until you zoom in.
Which shape for which job
“Original ratio” is the eighth option, and it keeps whatever shape your photo already has.
- WhatsApp and social profile pictures: choose 1:1, then place the face in the centre, because most apps show it inside a circle that trims the corners.
- YouTube thumbnails and slide images: choose 16:9. Thumbnails are usually made at 1280 × 720, so crop first and then resize.
- Stories, Reels and Shorts: choose 9:16. Frame the subject in the middle, because the top and bottom are often covered by the app’s buttons and text.
- Feed posts in portrait: 4:5 is the usual shape, and it is not in this tool. 3:4 is close but a little taller. For an exact 4:5 use the Social Media Image Resizer, which has presets for the main platforms and a Fill (crop) option.
- Passport, visa and ID photos: these use shapes such as 35 × 45 mm that are not in the list. The Passport Size Photo Maker is built for them, and the passport photo guide shows the sizes.
After the crop: exact pixels and file size
The cropper saves the area you framed at its natural size in pixels. A 3000 × 3000 square stays 3000 × 3000. That is great for quality, but a form that asks for 200 × 200 pixels, or a limit of 100 KB, will still reject it. Cropping gets the shape right, and two more steps finish the job.
- 1CropFix the shape and the framing here.
- 2ResizeSet the exact pixels with the Image Resizer. The guide explains pixels versus percentage.
- 3CompressIf a size cap such as 50 KB applies, use Compress Image to KB and read the guide.
Doing it in this order keeps the best quality, because the photo is only reduced once, at the end.
A last note on quality. Cropping on its own does not blur anything, because it simply keeps some pixels and drops the rest. The softness people complain about comes from zooming in far on a small photo, or from saving a JPG again and again. A cropped JPG is saved at high quality (about 95%), so the result stays sharp. If you need the subject without its background, try the Background Remover, and read how it works in the background removal guide.
Common cropping mistakes
Questions people ask
How do I crop a photo to a square?
Open the Image Cropper, choose your photo, set the Aspect ratio to 1:1 Square, then use the Horizontal and Vertical sliders to centre your subject. A 4000 × 3000 photo gives a 3000 × 3000 square at 100% zoom.
Photo ko crop kaise kare?
Image Cropper kholiye, photo chuniye, aur ratio select kijiye jaise 1:1 ya 16:9. Zoom aur position sliders se jo hissa chahiye wo frame mein laiye aur download dabaiye. Photo aapke device se bahar nahi jati.
Does cropping reduce quality?
Cropping alone does not blur a photo, because it keeps some pixels and drops the others. Quality drops when you zoom in a lot on a small photo, because few pixels are shown large. The saved JPG uses high quality (about 95%).
Why does the vertical slider do nothing?
When the crop already uses the full height of the photo, there is no extra room to slide up or down. Increase the Zoom and both the horizontal and vertical sliders start to move the frame.
What does Original ratio do?
It keeps your photo’s own shape, so no part is trimmed at 100% zoom. It is only useful together with the Zoom slider, to get closer to a subject without changing the shape.
Can I crop to 4:5 or to a passport size?
Not in this tool, because its shapes are Original, 1:1, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9, 3:4, 2:3 and 9:16. For 4:5 use the Social Media Image Resizer, and for passport and ID sizes use the Passport Size Photo Maker.
Will the cropped picture be the exact size my form asks for?
No. The crop is saved at its natural size in pixels. If a form wants an exact size, crop first, then use the Image Resizer, and then Compress Image to KB if there is also a file-size limit.
Is my photo uploaded when I crop it?
No. The cropping runs in your browser and the picture stays on your device. The saved file keeps your photo’s type, so a JPG stays a JPG, a WEBP stays a WEBP and other types are saved as PNG.