How cropping works here
The photo opens the right way up (the rotation your camera stored in the file is applied) and a crop box covers it. Drag inside the box to move it, or drag one of the eight handles to resize it. With a shape such as 4:5 chosen, the box keeps that shape while you drag, and the corner or edge opposite the one you hold stays put. All positions are measured in the photo's real pixels, not screen pixels, so the numbers in X, Y, Width and Height are exactly what you get.
Height for a ratio = width ÷ ratio. 4:5 at 2400 px wide: 2400 ÷ (4 ÷ 5) = 3000 px tall
Worked example
You have a 4032 × 3024 landscape photo and want a 4:5 Instagram portrait post. Choose 4:5. The largest 4:5 box that fits is the full 3024 px height and 3024 × 4 ÷ 5 = 2419 px wide, centred at X = 806. Drag it left or right so the subject sits where you want it, then download: the result is a 2419 × 3024 JPG. Instagram shows portrait posts at 1080 × 1350, so you can upload this directly or shrink it with the resize tool first.
Common shapes
| Shape | Typical use | Example size |
|---|---|---|
| 1:1 | Instagram square post, profile pictures, product shots | 1080 × 1080 |
| 4:5 | Instagram portrait post | 1080 × 1350 |
| 16:9 | YouTube thumbnails, slides, desktop wallpapers | 1280 × 720, 1920 × 1080 |
| 3:2 | Camera photos, 4×6 in prints | 1800 × 1200 (4×6 in at 300 DPI) |
| 9:16 | Stories, Reels, TikTok, phone wallpapers | 1080 × 1920 |
Privacy and output
Your photo stays on your device. The download keeps the original format where the browser can write it: JPG stays JPG, PNG stays PNG with its transparency, and WebP stays WebP except in Safari, which saves it as JPG. GIF, BMP and AVIF are saved as JPG. The cropped file is a new image with no EXIF data. Crops larger than 16.7 megapixels are scaled down to that size, the most phones can handle; the status line tells you when that happens.
Questions people ask
How do I crop a photo to an exact pixel size?
Choose Free, then type the numbers into Width and Height (and X and Y for the top-left corner). The box moves to match. If you need a fixed output size such as 1080 × 1080 rather than a part of the photo, crop to the 1:1 ratio here and then use the resize tool to scale it.
Which ratio should I use for Instagram, YouTube or a profile picture?
Instagram feed posts: 1:1 square or 4:5 portrait (4:5 takes up the most room in the feed). Stories, Reels and TikTok: 9:16. YouTube thumbnails and most video: 16:9. Profile pictures on most sites are shown in a circle cut from a square, so use 1:1 and keep the face in the middle. 3:2 is the shape of most camera photos and 4×6 prints.
Can I crop with the keyboard?
Yes. Tab to the crop box, then use the arrow keys to move it 1% of the photo at a time, or hold Shift to move 10%. Hold Ctrl or Alt (Option on a Mac) with the arrow keys to make the box wider, narrower, taller or shorter. The X, Y, Width and Height fields accept exact values too.
Does cropping lower the quality?
The pixels you keep are copied one-for-one, with no resizing. PNG output is lossless. JPG and WebP are saved again at quality 92, which looks the same on screen but is not bit-for-bit identical to the original file. The file gets smaller because there are fewer pixels.
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The photo is opened and cropped by your browser on your device, and the download is created there too. The cropped file has no EXIF data, so the GPS location and camera details from the original are not carried over.