Crop an Image
Draw a box over the part of the picture you want to keep, or snap it to a preset ratio like 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9, then export just that region. Everything happens the moment you release the mouse, at no cost, and the photo is handled by your own browser rather than a remote server.
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How it works
- Load a photo by dragging it in or browsing.
- Pull the corner handles to frame your subject, or pick a ratio preset.
- Nudge the box with arrow keys for pixel-level placement.
- Export the cropped area as JPEG, PNG or WebP.
Worth knowing
Cropping is the highest-leverage edit in photography: it costs nothing, and it fixes the most common problem in casual photos, which is a subject too small and too centered amid clutter. The classic guidance still earns its keep - place eyes or focal points near the intersections of an imaginary 3x3 grid, crop tight enough that the subject dominates, and leave breathing room in the direction a person faces or moves.
Ratio presets exist because destinations dictate shape. Square 1:1 suits avatars and product grids; 4:5 is the tallest frame Instagram feed posts allow, buying you more screen than square; 16:9 matches video thumbnails and presentation slides; 3:4 mirrors the classic portrait orientation many ID forms and print labs expect. Choosing the ratio before you frame prevents the sad discovery that a perfect composition does not survive the platform crop.
A technical note on lossless cropping: JPEG stores pixels in blocks, and a mathematically lossless crop is only possible when the cut lands exactly on those block boundaries - multiples of 8 or 16 pixels depending on chroma subsampling. Freeform crops almost never do, so this tool, like effectively every online cropper, decodes and re-encodes. Export at quality 90 or above, or to PNG, and the generational loss stays imperceptible.
Resolution is the budget you crop within. Cutting a 12-megapixel photo down to a quarter of its area still leaves 3 megapixels - plenty for web use and small prints. But cropping a face out of a distant group shot might leave 200 pixels of head, and no export setting can rescue that. The dimensions readout under the crop box tells you exactly what you will be left with before you commit.
A truly lossless JPEG crop requires the top-left corner to land on an 8- or 16-pixel block boundary - a constraint so restrictive that virtually every cropping tool re-encodes instead, making your export quality setting the thing that actually matters.
What this tool will not do
- It will not recover anything outside the crop box after export - keep your original file if you may want a different framing later.
- It will not intelligently detect and center your subject; framing decisions stay yours.
- It will not extend the canvas or generate new background - cropping only removes area, never adds it.
Questions people ask
How do I crop a picture to a specific size like 600x600?
Select the matching ratio (1:1 for a square), frame your subject, then export and resize to 600 px. Ratio at crop time plus exact pixels at resize time is the reliable two-step recipe for forms with strict requirements.
Why did my image quality drop after cropping?
Two suspects: the export quality setting was low, or the crop was so tight that few pixels remain and they are now displayed enlarged. Watch the output dimensions readout - anything under about 800 px will look soft at full-screen sizes.
What is the best crop ratio for Instagram?
Use 4:5 for feed posts - it occupies the most vertical space allowed. Note the profile grid has previewed posts at 3:4 since January 2025, so keep critical elements away from the extreme top and bottom of a 4:5 frame.
Can I crop a photo into a circle here?
This tool cuts rectangles. There is a dedicated circle crop tool on this site that masks a round area onto transparency and exports a PNG - use that for round avatars and badges.
How do I straighten a tilted photo while cropping?
Rotate first, then crop. The rotate tool accepts fine fractional angles for horizon leveling, and cropping afterward trims away the angled edges rotation introduces.
Does cropping reduce file size?
Yes, roughly in proportion to the area removed - keeping half the area gives you about half the file. It is also the only size reduction that costs zero quality in the region you keep.
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