Crop Image
Drag a box over the part you want to keep. Runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
About Crop Image
Crop Image cuts a photo down to the area you actually want, either freehand or to a fixed ratio such as square or 16:9. Everything outside the box is discarded and the file gets smaller. It runs in your browser and your images are never uploaded.
Cropping is the most powerful editing decision most people ever make, and it is free. Photographs are usually taken quickly, with the subject somewhere in the middle of a lot of surrounding clutter. Tightening the frame onto what the picture is actually about transforms it far more than any filter, because it removes the distractions competing for attention.
The practical driver is more often a required shape. Profile pictures are square, video thumbnails are 16:9, printed photos are 4:3 or 3:2, and social platforms each want something different. Uploading the wrong ratio hands the crop decision to an algorithm that centres on the middle of the frame — which is how people end up with a profile photo of their own forehead. Cropping deliberately means you decide what survives.
How to Crop Image
- Select the image you want to crop.
- Choose a fixed ratio if you are targeting a specific platform, or crop freely.
- Drag the box over the area you want to keep.
- Nudge the edges to fine-tune the composition.
- Download the cropped image.
Tips & common problems
Crop to the required ratio, not just the size
Getting the shape right prevents a platform re-cropping your image. Square for most profile pictures, 16:9 for video thumbnails and presentation slides.
Leave headroom for faces
Cropping too tightly around a head looks claustrophobic. A little space above and in the direction the subject is facing reads far better.
Cropping raises the effective resolution requirement
Cutting to a quarter of the frame leaves a quarter of the pixels. Check the result is still large enough for its destination before you rely on it.
Crop first, then resize and compress
Doing it in this order means you compress only the pixels you are keeping, which produces the smallest file for a given quality.
Frequently asked questions
How do I crop an image for free?
Select it, drag the crop box over what you want to keep and download. No signup, no watermark and nothing uploaded.
Are my images uploaded?
No. Cropping happens entirely in your browser, so your photos never leave your device.
Can I crop to a specific ratio?
Yes. Lock to square, 16:9, 4:3 or crop freehand, which is the reliable way to prepare images for platforms with fixed requirements.
Does cropping reduce quality?
The pixels you keep are unchanged, so there is no quality loss. But you keep fewer pixels overall, so a heavily cropped image is smaller and may be too low-resolution for large display.
Is the cropped-away area really gone?
Yes. Unlike cropping a PDF, which only changes the visible region, cropping an image discards the removed pixels entirely — which is why the file also gets smaller.
What size should a profile picture be?
Square, and at least 400x400 pixels for most platforms. Larger is fine since it will be scaled down, but below that it will look soft.