Resize an image
Resizing changes the pixel dimensions of an image. It is the most effective thing you can do to a file that is too large, and the thing most people reach for last.
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Resizing tools
Exact dimensions, presets, and cropping.
Sizes people ask for
Pages that open the resizer already set to a specific requirement.
Resize or compress — which do you actually need?
They solve different problems and are constantly confused.
Resizing changes how many pixels the image has. A 4000 × 3000 photo resized to 1200 × 900 has 91% fewer pixels, and the file gets dramatically smaller as a direct consequence. Nothing about the remaining pixels is degraded — there are simply fewer of them.
Compressing keeps the pixel count and stores those pixels less precisely. Push it far and you get the blocky, smeared look everyone recognises.
Which means: if your image is larger than it will ever be displayed, resize it first. You will get a smaller file with no visible cost at all, and then only need gentle compression on top. If you are already at the right dimensions and still over a limit, compression is the remaining lever.
Fit, cover and stretch
When the shape you need does not match the shape you have, there are only three honest options:
- Fit — the whole image is kept and padding fills the gap. Nothing is lost, but you get bars.
- Cover — the frame is filled completely and the overflow is cropped away. This is what you want almost every time, and the only question is what gets cut.
- Stretch — the image is distorted to fit. There is essentially no situation where this is the right answer for a photograph of a person.
For a passport or ID photo, none of these apply blindly: those specifications control where the head sits within the frame, so the crop has to be positioned deliberately rather than centred automatically.