Image Resizer

Resizing vs. compressing — they're not the same thing

Before going into that, let's just establish it once and for all that the two are often confused. Resizing alters the size of an image in terms of pixel size (for instance, a 1200×900 image is smaller than a 4000×3000 image). Compression affects the storage size of the file (in megabytes or kilobytes) and does not necessarily change any of its dimensions. If you're just looking to make an image 1200px wide, but the true desire is “I want this to look good on this file being under 2MB”, then a dedicated image compressor like the one in this tutorial will be the more direct route to smaller files. Many folks require both — make the size appropriate before compressing to target file size.

To resize an image, follow these three steps:

1. Upload your photo. You can use it to drag and drop one image or an entire batch (processes multiple files in one go)!
2. Select the size you want to shoot for. Enter the actual size in pixels, choose a percentage of the original size (e.g., 50% of the original), or select a preset that's designed for a particular platform.
3. Download. Click individual file, or if resized a batch, click on the ZIP file.

In terms of images size, common sizes are:

It's better to have the correct number saved somewhere than guessing. The most sought-after sizes are the following:

If you don't see your size on this list, most platforms will have their true size specification in their help center, although these are the ones that cover most resizing needs.

No loss of quality when resizing the image.

When you're reducing an image, it's very rare you'll lose quality that's noticeable to the human eye — you're just taking away information that the display can't even show. The risk is the opposite – to make an image larger than its original resolution. Stretching a 400×300 image to 1600×1200 only fills more space with the same number of pixels, and that is why they look blurry or "pixelated".

A few habits help to make results stay fresh:

• Resize from the original file, not from an already resized, heavily compressed copy — saving will cause loss of quality.
• While editing the image, do not alter the aspect ratio unless you are deliberately cropping or adjusting the image size. This is the only general reason for "stretched" looking photos: it has been unlocked and bad width/height values were entered into it.
• If you have to enlarge a small image, there will be some softness; a standard resizer won't be able to do that extra detail as an AI upscaler will.
• Save the image in the appropriate file format for the content: JPEG for photographs and PNG if you are saving for transparency after resizing.

Batch resizing

Resizing one image at a time is not practical when you're preparing product photos for your online store, thumbnails for your blog or a folder of event photos. You can upload an entire folder and apply one target size (or one percent scaling) to all the files there; then download the entire batch as a ZIP. It's also the way you'll ensure a consistent and professional appearance throughout a product catalog or gallery, with all images appearing at the same dimensions, rather than slightly different ones from one image to the next.

Resizing images is important for your site because:

• Page speed. If you put an image on your page that is 400px wide, but upload it at 4000px wide, then visitors' browsers have to download 10 times more data than they will ever view. One of the quickest ways to improve your page load time is to resize to the actual size of your display and page load time is a known variable when it comes to user experience and Google's ranking factors.
• Consistent layouts. The moment images appear in the wrong sizes, the templates, the grids and the galleries appear broken. Reduce to a certain size before uploading – this ensures all images are in alignment without having to use CSS to force them into strange shapes.
• Platform requirements. Social platforms, ad networks and marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy and Shopify will automatically reject and crop images that do not match their exact pixel specifications. The correct first size will prevent an auto-crop from determining the presentation of your image.

Frequently Asked Questions