Crop Image

How it works

Choose your images, pick the crop shape and press Crop. The cut is always taken from the middle: on a 4000×3000 photo, choosing 1:1 keeps the central 3000×3000 square and removes an equal strip from each side. Where the picture is too wide for the target the sides go, and where it is too tall the top and bottom go. The ratio is never stretched to reach the target, so the pixels that survive are exactly the pixels you started with, in their original colours and positions. The circle and oval shapes begin with that same centre crop and then clear everything outside the round frame. Rectangular shapes give you JPG back from a JPG source and PNG from anything else; circle and oval always come back as PNG, because a JPG cannot hold an empty area. The new dimensions are added to the file name, and each result line shows the size before and after so you can see precisely how much was removed.

This tool is also known as crop image, crop photo to square, crop image into a circle, round profile picture, oval crop, 16:9 crop, center crop.

What is Cropping?

Cropping means keeping a rectangle of the picture and discarding everything outside it. The frame changes, the surviving pixels do not, and the removed area is gone from the output file for good. It is a composition decision more than a technical one: you crop to centre a subject, to clear clutter at the edges, or to force a picture into the shape something else demands. Because nothing that leaves the frame can be recovered, keeping the untouched original is the habit worth forming before you start.

What is Aspect ratio?

Aspect ratio describes the shape of the frame, written as width against height: 1:1 is a square, 16:9 a wide rectangle, 9:16 that same rectangle stood on end. Cropping is usually about reaching one of these shapes, because uploads, thumbnails and print frames each expect a particular one. When your photo's shape does not match the target there are only two ways out — distort the picture, which is never the answer, or cut it down. This tool cuts, and it takes the cut from the middle.

What is Transparency?

A transparent area is a region of the file that carries no colour at all: nothing is painted there, so whatever sits behind the image shows through. A circular crop leaves the four corners outside the circle in that state, which is why a round photo does not sit in a visible box on a dark page or a light one. Only some formats can store it — PNG and WEBP can, JPG cannot, so a transparent area converted to JPG becomes a white or black fill.

Cropping or resizing — what is the difference?

Resizing keeps the whole picture and changes how many pixels describe it: the frame is identical, nothing is thrown away, the file simply becomes smaller or larger. Cropping changes the frame itself — a chosen rectangle stays and the rest is deleted. Reach for resizing when the goal is a lighter file or a specific pixel measurement, and for cropping when the goal is a shape: a square avatar, a 16:9 header, a vertical story frame. The two also work well in sequence. Crop first to establish the ratio, then resize to hit the exact pixel target; doing it in that order avoids scaling the picture twice.

Cropping is permanent, and it is not resizing

The pixels outside the frame are not hidden, they are absent from the output file. Look at the result before you delete anything, especially when the subject sits away from the middle of the shot.

Cropping and resizing answer different questions. Resizing keeps the whole picture and makes it smaller; cropping keeps part of the picture at its original scale. If you want everything in frame and only need a lighter file, the resizer is the tool for that.

Where a circular crop earns its place

A round frame is wanted in three situations above all: a profile picture, because most apps display avatars as circles; a round logo or badge; and a small image meant to read as a stamp or seal. Cropping to a circle yourself means you decide where the round frame lands, instead of leaving that decision to whatever app displays the file.

The four corners outside the circle are left empty rather than filled: on a dark page they take the colour of the page, on white paper they read as white. That is only possible because the output is a PNG file — a JPG cannot store an empty area and would turn those corners black.

If you want the corners white rather than empty, one extra step does it: take the PNG you just downloaded through the PNG to JPG converter. That tool fills empty areas with white, leaving you a round photo on a white square.

The oval option does the same thing in an upright 3:4 frame, which suits portrait and locket-style images.

Which shape goes where?

Most platforms enforce a ratio of their own, and an upload in the wrong shape gets cropped for you — with no say over where the cut lands and which part of the subject falls outside it. Cropping in advance removes that surprise: you decide what stays in frame before anyone else does.

A quick check before uploading: the target is usually stated in the platform's own help pages, and it changes more often for cover images than for avatars.

• Profile picture and product shot → 1:1
• Round avatar, logo or seal → Circle
• Slides and classic screens → 4:3
• Video thumbnail and site header → 16:9
• Stories and vertical video → 9:16
• Portrait print and posters → 3:4

Frequently asked questions

How do I crop a photo into a circle?

Pick Circle from the crop shape list and press Crop. The tool first takes the largest square from the middle of the photo, then keeps the circle that fits inside that square and clears the four corners around it. The file arrives as a PNG, which is what keeps those corners empty.

Can I choose where the crop lands?

No, this tool always cuts from the centre. When the subject sits near an edge you need an editor with a free selection box, because a centre crop would remove exactly the part you wanted to keep.

Does the picture get stretched?

Never. Cropping only removes edges. The remaining pixels keep their exact values and positions, so nothing is squashed, resampled or softened by the operation.

What if the image is already at that ratio?

Then there is nothing to remove. The file is written out again at the same dimensions and the result line shows the size unchanged, which is a useful way to confirm the ratio you already have.

Which format do I get back?

For the rectangular shapes: JPG in, JPG out, while PNG and WEBP sources are saved as PNG. Circle and oval are always saved as PNG so the empty corners survive. The new dimensions are appended to the file name in every case.