Why crop and resize your image

Let's have a look at some most common issues for those changes:

  • Most often, it’s just the case of something extra in the background that was not intended to get there.
  • Besides that, sometimes there is a need to send multiple images via email, but the size limit of email services may not be enough to transfer full-size images that the user wants to attach.
  • It also happens that the user wants to post an image on a forum or website or use it as an avatar, but the maximum image sizes are limited, and the user’s photo exceeds that limit.

In all these cases, the users have to resize or crop the image to fit the specified aspect ratio or size limit. When they are looking for how to decrease the size of a photo, cropping and resizing are the fastest and easiest options.

However, even though cropping and resizing both result in reducing the size of pictures, there is still a difference between the two. Let’s take a look at them.

What is cropping

So, what does crop mean? Even if you haven’t used it yet, you may have seen this option when viewing photos on your phone or PC. Simply put, cropping is editing an image by removing a part of it.

Besides removing unwanted areas from a photo, it can serve other purposes as well, for example, highlighting specific parts of the image.

What is resizing

The definition of resizing is in its name – it simply means changing the size of an image. It can be used to both increase and decrease image resolution – upscaling and downscaling respectively – as well as changing aspect ratio to fit different dimension requirements.

Resizing is widely used in computer graphics, video processing, and is also implemented at the hardware level in modern TVs and video players.

Common mistakes

Although cropping and resizing images are quite popular and straightforward editing methods, sometimes errors do occur.

  1. For example, trying to resize a square image to a rectangular one often results in an unappealing stretching of the image.
  2. Another problem is the loss of quality when resizing. This is not as noticeable when downsizing images, but upsizing them can often result in pixelation. With modern artificial intelligence capabilities, this happens less frequently, but until this technology is much more common, it is worth being more careful and attentive when upscaling an image.
  3. Also, when uploading a picture as an avatar or banner, the site sometimes automatically crops it and not always in the right way. Cropping body parts or breaking the intended artistic composition of the image is common in such cases.

Therefore, if the user knows that such problems await them when using automatic editing, it is better to crop or resize the photo manually. Fortunately, many options will help to do this quickly and efficiently.

Image cropper and resizer tools

Image cropping is simple – most systems have a built-in application with this function:

  • Windows has Photos and Microsoft Paint apps.
  • Mac offers Preview and Photos which allow to crop an image in different shapes.
  • On phones, the cropping option can be found as an additional feature while viewing a photo.

And if you’re having trouble using any of these apps or have a different operating system, there are plenty of online cropping tools to help you out.

Resizing, on the other hand, is a more complex process. Some built-in apps, like Microsoft Paint, allow you to up- or downscale an image, but not always they are straightforward or work as desired. So, it’s better to use dedicated image resizers for better control of the result. Here are some of the options you can try out:

  • Photopea – a complex editing tool you can use to resize and crop images online and make other visual changes.
  • Adobe’s Resizer – a simple tool that helps to change the aspect ratio to fit different social media platforms, or apply custom values.
  • Online Video or Image Resizer – a simple online tool providing the same features as Adobe’s, but with an additional option to resize videos as well.
  • Fotor’s Resizer – among other resizing options, it allows you to resize a photo without cropping by using percentages.

And there are many other options – so it is a matter of taste and convenience! Each method has its pros and cons. So just make sure to check the features and options of an editor or tool before starting to work with your visual.