Add a photo, type the width you need, and download it at that size. Leave the height at 0 and it is worked out for you, so a 4000 × 3000 camera shot set to 1200 wide comes back as 1200 × 900 with nothing stretched.
You can also resize by percentage instead of pixels. Half size is 50, a quarter is 25, and anything up to 400 enlarges. The file keeps its format: a JPG stays a JPG, a PNG stays a PNG, and the new dimensions are added to the name, so photo.jpg downloads as photo-1200x900.jpg.
It handles up to 30 images in one go. A single image downloads on its own; a batch arrives as one ZIP called resized-images.zip, which is handy when a whole folder of product shots or holiday photos needs to hit the same width.
How to resize Image
- Add your images. JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 30 at once and 100 MB each.
- Choose how to resize. Pick "Exact size in pixels" and enter a width, a height or both, or pick "Percentage of the original" and enter a number from 1 to 400.
- Leave one side at 0 to keep proportions. With only the width filled in, the height follows the original aspect ratio, and the same works the other way round.
- Resize and download. One image saves directly with its new size in the file name; several come back together in a ZIP.
Pixels, percentage, and what the 0 means
The default mode asks for a width and a height in pixels, set to 1200 and 0. The 0 is not a mistake: it tells the tool to calculate that side from the original shape. Fill in only the width and the height follows; fill in only the height and the width follows. This is the setting to use nearly every time, because the picture keeps its proportions exactly.
Enter both numbers and you get exactly that size, whatever the original shape was. If the proportions match, that is fine. If they do not, say a 4:3 photo forced into 1080 × 1080, the image is stretched or squashed to fit and faces start to look wrong. To get a square or a banner shape without distortion, the photo has to be cropped to that shape first; resizing alone cannot change the shape cleanly.
Percentage mode is simpler when you do not care about a specific number. 25% of a 4000 × 3000 image is 1000 × 750, and 50% of a 1920 × 1080 screenshot is 960 × 540. Values above 100 enlarge the image, up to 400%. Enlarging adds pixels but cannot add detail that was never captured, so a small image blown up to four times its size will look soft rather than sharp.
Sizes people commonly need
Instagram: 1080 pixels wide is the standard; a larger upload is scaled down by the app anyway. Full HD screens and slideshows: 1920 × 1080. Website hero and banner images: usually 1600 to 2000 pixels wide, which stays crisp on most laptop screens without a heavy download. Images inside emails: around 1200 pixels wide is plenty, since most email layouts display them at 600 pixels or less.
Upload forms are the other big reason to resize. Many job application sites, government portals and visa or licence forms cap each attachment at somewhere between 1 and 5 MB, and a modern phone photo can be larger than that on its own. A 12-megapixel phone picture is 4032 × 3024 pixels; resized to 1600 wide it has roughly a sixth as many pixels, and the file typically shrinks to a fraction of its original size. The exact figure depends on the photo, but a 4 MB original commonly ends up well under 1 MB.
If the result is still too big for the form, run it through Compress Image afterwards. Resizing reduces the number of pixels; compression then reduces how many bytes each pixel costs. Doing both, in that order, gets the smallest file for a given visible quality.
What happens to quality, format and photo data
Shrinking a large photo in one step tends to produce jagged edges and a shimmering look on fine patterns like fabric, brickwork or hair. To avoid that, big reductions are done in halving steps, each one averaging neighbouring pixels, until the target size is reached. The result looks like a smaller photograph rather than a coarser one.
The output format matches the input. JPG and WebP files are saved at quality 90, which is high enough that the re-save is hard to see. PNG files are saved losslessly, so screenshots and graphics with sharp text stay clean. If you want a different format as well as a different size, resize here and then use Convert Image.
Camera and location data stored in the photo, including GPS coordinates, is not carried over to the resized copy, while the orientation is kept correct so portrait shots stay upright. There is also a ceiling of 16 megapixels on the output, set by how much image data browsers (iPhones in particular) can handle at once. Ask for something larger, such as a 400% enlargement of a big photo, and it is scaled down to fit within that limit.
Questions people actually ask
How do I resize an image without stretching it?
Fill in only one side and leave the other at 0. Set the width to 1200 with the height at 0 and the height is calculated from the original proportions, so a 4000 × 3000 photo becomes 1200 × 900. Stretching only happens when you enter both a width and a height that do not match the original shape.
How do I resize a photo to 1080 pixels for Instagram?
Choose “Exact size in pixels”, enter 1080 as the width and leave the height at 0. A landscape or portrait photo keeps its shape. Entering 1080 × 1080 will only give a clean square if the original is already square; otherwise the picture is distorted to fit.
How do I make a photo smaller to upload to a form with a 2 MB limit?
Resize it to around 1600 pixels wide first. A typical 12-megapixel phone photo shrinks to a fraction of its size, often well under 1 MB, though the exact result depends on the picture. If it is still over the limit, run the resized file through Compress Image as a second step.
Can I resize an image by percentage?
Yes. Switch “Resize by” to “Percentage of the original” and enter any value from 1 to 400. 50% halves both the width and the height, so a 4000 × 3000 image at 25% becomes 1000 × 750. Values over 100 enlarge the image, though enlarging cannot add detail that was not there.
Does resizing an image reduce its quality?
Making an image smaller removes pixels, but done in halving steps it looks clean rather than jagged. JPG and WebP are re-saved at quality 90 and PNG losslessly, so the re-save itself is hard to spot. Enlarging is different: the extra pixels are interpolated, so the result looks softer than the original.