Image Cropper: Crop Photos Online with Aspect Ratio Presets

How to use the image cropper

To crop an image, upload it and drag the corner handles of the selection box to frame what you want. Pick a fixed ratio such as 1:1 or 16:9 if you need one. The crop is applied at the original resolution, so a selection on a 6000 px photo exports at 6000 px scale.

Open your imageDrop it in or browse. The crop box starts covering the whole picture.
Drag the selectionMove the box or pull a corner handle. Pick a fixed ratio for profile pictures, video thumbnails or prints.
Export the cropChoose a format and download at full resolution.

About this tool

Cropping decides what the viewer looks at. This cropper works on the full-resolution image even though the preview is scaled down to fit your screen, so a selection on a 6000 px photo exports at 6000 px scale, with no hidden quality loss.

The selection box supports pointer, touch and keyboard input: arrow keys nudge it in small steps and Shift + arrow moves it in larger jumps. The pixel readout under the preview always shows the exact crop rectangle in original image coordinates.

What you get

Touch, mouse and keyboard-accessible crop box
Free-form or locked ratios: 1:1, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 and portrait equivalents
Live pixel readout in original-image coordinates
Crops at full resolution, not at preview resolution
Convert format and set quality while cropping

When to use the image cropper

Profile pictures and avatars

Lock the ratio to 1:1 so the face stays centred when the platform renders it as a circle. Leave a little headroom, because circular masks cut off the corners.

Video thumbnails

Lock to 16:9 for YouTube. Keep important detail away from the bottom-right corner, where the duration badge sits.

Straightening a composition

Crop out distracting edges, tighten the subject, or correct a horizon that sits too low or too high.

Preparing prints

Standard photo sizes have fixed ratios: 3:2 for 6×4 inch, 5:4 for 10×8 inch. Cropping to the ratio first stops the lab cutting off heads.

Which aspect ratio to use

Ratio	Where it is used
1:1	Profile pictures, Instagram square posts, app icons
4:5	Instagram portrait (takes up the most feed space)
16:9	YouTube thumbnails, video frames, presentation slides
9:16	Stories, Reels, TikTok, phone wallpapers
3:2	35 mm photography, 6 × 4 inch prints
4:3	Older cameras, iPad screens, 10 × 7.5 inch prints
Free	Banners, headers, and anything with no fixed requirement

How it works

The crop rectangle is stored in normalised coordinates (four numbers between 0 and 1) rather than screen pixels. That means the preview can be scaled down to fit a phone screen while the exported crop is still computed against the full-resolution image, and it also means the selection survives a window resize or a device rotation without drifting.

When you lock an aspect ratio, dragging a corner adjusts the free dimension to match, anchored to the opposite corner so the box does not jump. The ratio is applied in original-image coordinates, not preview coordinates, so a locked 1:1 selection is exactly square in the exported file even though the on-screen preview may be scaled unevenly.

Cropping itself is lossless: the selected pixels are copied unchanged. Any quality difference between the source and the export comes entirely from re-encoding, which is why the format selector offers PNG for a bit-exact result.

Common problems and how to fix them

The crop handles are hard to grab on a phone: The hit area extends 13 px beyond each visible handle. If that is still fiddly, drag the middle of the box to reposition it and use the keyboard: click the box once, then the arrow keys nudge it and Shift + arrow moves it in larger steps.
The exported crop is smaller than I expected: The output matches the selection in original pixels, shown live under the preview. If you need an exact output size, crop to the right ratio here and then resize with the Image Resizer.
I cannot get an exactly square crop: Choose the 1:1 preset instead of dragging freehand. The box then keeps equal width and height however you drag.
The preview looks lower resolution than my image: Large images are downscaled for display so the page stays responsive. The export is full resolution regardless.

Frequently asked questions

Does cropping lose quality?

The cropped area keeps its original pixels. Nothing is rescaled. The only quality change comes from re-encoding: choose PNG for a lossless result, or JPG/WebP at 90+ if file size matters more.

How do I crop to a perfect square?

Choose the 1:1 ratio. The selection box then keeps equal width and height however you drag it, which is what most profile pictures and avatars need.

Can I crop to an exact pixel size?

Crop to the ratio you want here, then resize the result to exact pixels with the Image Resizer. Doing it in that order keeps the composition and avoids distortion.

Why is the preview smaller than my image?

Very large images are downscaled for display so the page stays responsive on phones. The crop maths is done in original coordinates, so the exported file is full resolution.

Can I crop several images at once?

No. Crop them one at a time: a crop rectangle is specific to one composition, so a shared one would frame most photos badly. Use the Social Media Image Resizer if you need the same image in many sizes.

How do I crop a photo to a circle?

Crop to a 1:1 square here and export as PNG. The circular mask itself is applied by whatever displays the image: CSS border-radius, or the platform's own avatar rendering. A true circular image with transparent corners needs an image editor.

Does cropping reduce the file size?

Yes, roughly in proportion to the pixels removed. Cropping away half the image typically halves the file.

Can I undo a crop?

Press Reset to start again from the original, which is still in memory. Once you have downloaded and replaced your file, the discarded pixels are gone, so keep the original.

Crop an image exactly how you want

Before

Result

Output