How to Crop an Image to a Ratio: 1:1, 4:5, 16:9 and 9:16 Explained

Cropping removes the parts of a picture you do not want, and it is how you make a photo fit a frame of a specific shape. The shape is described by an aspect ratio such as 1:1 or 16:9. Knowing which ratio goes where saves you from the awkward results of letting a platform crop for you.

What an aspect ratio means

An aspect ratio is the width compared with the height. A ratio of 4:5 means the picture is 4 units wide for every 5 units tall. The ratio does not say how many pixels there are, only the shape, so many sizes share a ratio.

How the Image Cropper works

In the Image Cropper your picture appears with a bright crop rectangle and the rest dimmed.

• Drag the rectangle to move it, or drag the handles to resize it.
• Lock a ratio: Free, Original, 1:1, 4:5, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 or 9:16.
• Type exact values for the left, top, width and height if you need precision.
• Nudge the crop with the arrow keys for fine adjustment. The handles work on touch screens too.
• Save as PNG, JPG or WebP.

The crop keeps the original resolution. If your photo is 4000 pixels wide and you crop a square from it, the square keeps the real pixels of that region and is not scaled up or down. The image is processed in your browser and not uploaded.

Crop vs resize

These two are different and often confused.

• Cropping removes part of the picture and keeps the pixels that remain at full size.
• Resizing keeps the whole picture and changes how many pixels it has.

A typical sequence is to crop to the right shape first, then resize to the exact pixel size with the Image Resizer. Doing it the other way round wastes detail.

Choosing where to crop

• Keep faces in the upper half, with a little space above the head.
• Do not put the subject's feet or hands right at the edge.
• Leave breathing room where text will be added later.
• For tall crops, leave space at the top and bottom, where an app shows its own buttons and labels.
• For group photos, check that nobody is half cut off.

Straightening is a separate job

The cropper cuts rectangles; it does not rotate a tilted picture. For sideways photos, use the app that took the photo or an editor, and for PDF pages see how to rotate PDF pages.

Common cropping mistakes

1. Cropping a small thumbnail and then enlarging it. Crop from the largest original you have.
2. Locking the wrong ratio, then wondering why the platform adds black bars.
3. Cutting the subject too tightly, so a later crop to a different ratio is impossible. Keep the full original.
4. Forgetting that a platform may crop the centre of a wide image. Keep the key content near the middle.

After cropping

• Make the file smaller with the Image Compressor or a size page such as Compress Image to 50 KB.
• Round the corners for an avatar with Round Image.
• Add text with Add Text to Image.