How do I resize to an exact width without distorting it?

Type the width, leave the height blank, and keep the proportions box ticked. The height gets calculated for you.

Can I force exact dimensions that don't match the shape?

Yes, untick keep the original proportions. The image will be stretched or squashed to fit, which shows up badly on faces and straight lines.

Will resizing make my file smaller?

Nearly always, and by a lot. Pixel count falls with the square of the scale, so halving the width and height leaves roughly a quarter of the data.

Image Resizer

Set a new width, height or percentage. Fill in one and the other works itself out from the shape of the image, so nothing gets stretched by accident.

Choose an image or drop it hereJPG, PNG or WebP, up to 50 MB.

Runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded.

How to use Image Resizer

1Pick an image, or drag it onto the box above.
2Type a width or a height, or switch to a percentage.
3Check the line underneath, which shows the exact size you'll get.
4Press Resize image and download it.

One number is normally enough

Most of the time you know one of the two. A forum wants images 800 pixels wide. A print shop wants 1200 across. Type that one, leave the other blank, and the height gets worked out from the image's own proportions.

Fill in both with proportions kept and the image fits inside that box rather than filling it exactly. A 4000x3000 photo asked for 1000x1000 comes out 1000x750, because that's the biggest version that fits without distortion. Untick the proportions box and you get exactly the numbers you typed, stretching included. There are times you want that. Most of the time you don't, which is why it's on by default.

Why enlarging is switched off

Making an image bigger can't put back detail that was never captured. A 400-pixel image blown up to 2000 is the same information spread across twenty-five times as many pixels: soft, and in a bigger file. The option is there for when you genuinely need specific dimensions, but it stays off unless you ask for it.

Resizing beats compressing for file size

Dimensions move file size far more than quality settings do, because the pixel count falls with the square of the scale. Halve both edges and you're down to a quarter of the pixels before any compression gets involved. So when something rejects your image as too large, resizing is the first thing to try and compressing is the second.

The resized image gets re-encoded, which means EXIF is dropped and a JPG gets compressed again. Starting from the original rather than from a copy you resized last week keeps that to a single pass.

Limits

50 MB per image.
Enlarging is possible but can't recover detail that isn't in the original.
EXIF metadata is not preserved.
Animated GIFs aren't supported.

Frequently asked questions

How do I resize to an exact width without distorting it?: Type the width, leave the height blank, and keep the proportions box ticked. The height gets calculated for you.
Can I force exact dimensions that don't match the shape?: Yes, untick keep the original proportions. The image will be stretched or squashed to fit, which shows up badly on faces and straight lines.
Will resizing make my file smaller?: Nearly always, and by a lot. Pixel count falls with the square of the scale, so halving the width and height leaves roughly a quarter of the data.