Image Cropper
Crop images with a draggable selection box — free, 1:1, 4:3 or 16:9 presets, live pixel readout, JPEG, PNG or WebP export, all in your browser.
Drop an image above to get started
Cropping an image means keeping only the rectangular region you select and discarding everything outside it. The selection is measured in the image's real pixels, so a 3000-pixel-wide photo cropped to a 1000-pixel box comes out exactly 1000 pixels wide. Unlike filters or color adjustments, cropping rewrites the frame itself: whatever you cut away is gone from the result.
Cropping and resizing answer different questions. Resizing scales the entire picture to new dimensions — everything stays in frame, only rendered larger or smaller. Cropping decides what remains in the frame at all, while keeping the selected pixels at their original quality. A common pairing is cropping first to settle the composition, then resizing the result to the exact size a platform requires.
An aspect preset locks the selection's width-to-height proportion while you drag: 1:1 for squares, 4:3 for classic photos, 16:9 for widescreen video covers. Locking stops accidental drift and guarantees the result fits slots designed for that exact shape. Free mode leaves both edges independent when you simply need a region and the proportion does not matter.
Common uses
- Cutting a head-and-shoulders portrait out of a group photo for a profile avatar, using the 1:1 preset so the result matches the square or circular frames social platforms display it in.
- Preparing a video thumbnail by cropping a single frame to 16:9, the shape YouTube and most players expect, so no black bars or stretched previews appear beside the title.
- Removing a distracting passer-by, a messy table edge, or excess sky from a photo by tightening the frame around the subject instead of opening editing software to retouch it.
- Reframing one landscape shot for different placements — a wide banner for a site header, then a tighter 4:3 cut for a card grid — all derived from the same original file.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between cropping and resizing?
- Resizing rescales the whole image — every pixel stays, just rendered smaller or larger. Cropping keeps only the selected region and permanently discards the rest. Crop to change the composition or shape; resize to change the dimensions the file renders at.
- Does cropping reduce image quality?
- Pixels inside your selection keep their original quality — cropping itself recompresses nothing. But the cut-away area is gone for good, and exporting as JPEG or WebP re-encodes the result, adding one generation of compression. PNG export avoids that.
- Should I keep the original file after cropping?
- Yes. Cropping is destructive: once the cropped version is saved, the discarded pixels cannot be recovered from it. Keep the original somewhere safe so you can re-crop with different framing or a different ratio later.
- Can I crop to an exact pixel size?
- The selection shows its size in source pixels while you drag, so you can line it up with a target like 800 × 600. Presets lock the proportion rather than the absolute size — use free mode when arbitrary dimensions are fine.
- Why is my crop smaller than the dimensions I expected?
- Images with an edge over 4096 pixels are downsampled while decoding to keep memory in check, and the crop operates on those pixels. The readout above the export button always shows the true output size you will get.
- Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
- No. Decoding, cropping, and re-encoding all run inside your browser through the canvas API, and the result downloads straight to your device. Nothing leaves the page, so private or unpublished images stay entirely in your hands.