Image Cropper, Free Interactive Cropping in Your Browser

How to crop an image

Drop a JPG, PNG, or WebP file into the upload box, or click to select.
Adjust the crop rectangle by dragging it or its corner handles.
Pick an aspect ratio from the dropdown to constrain the crop, or leave on Free for unconstrained cropping.
Click Download cropped image to save the result in the same format as the source.

Everything happens inside your browser. No upload, no signup.

Aspect ratios and when to use them

Our presets cover the most common uses:

Free: No constraint. The crop can be any shape.
1:1 (Square): Instagram feed posts, profile photos, Twitter/X avatars, Facebook profile pictures.
4:3: Classic photo aspect ratio. Standard on most point-and-shoot cameras.
3:2: Standard DSLR and mirrorless camera aspect ratio. Also used for many print sizes.
16:9: YouTube thumbnails, modern video screens, web hero images on widescreen monitors.
Vertical 9:16: Stories, Reels, TikTok videos, Instagram Stories, phone lock screens.

When you change the aspect dropdown, the crop rectangle re-centers and resizes to match the new ratio. You can then drag or resize from there.

Interactive controls

Drag the rectangle to move the crop without resizing it.
Drag a corner handle (the small white squares) to resize from that corner.
With an aspect lock active, resizing from a corner maintains the ratio automatically. Only the dominant direction (the one you moved farther in) drives the resize.
Without an aspect lock, each corner can be moved independently for free-form cropping.

The current output dimensions are displayed in the top-right corner of the editor as you adjust.

Output format and quality

The cropped image is saved in the same format as the source:

JPG source produces JPG output at quality 92.
PNG source produces PNG (lossless).
WebP source produces WebP at quality 92.

If you want to further compress or convert the cropped result, run it through our JPG compressor or PNG-to-WebP converter.

Common cropping scenarios

Cropping a photo for Instagram

Pick the 1:1 preset. The default crop centers on the image; drag to position on your subject. Download the square crop and upload.

For Reels/Stories, pick Vertical 9:16. Drag the crop to capture the vertical portion you want.

Cropping a screenshot to remove chrome

Pick Free. Drag the crop rectangle to exclude the browser toolbar, window title, and any other UI you don’t want. The output keeps only the content you selected.

Cropping for a product thumbnail

Pick 1:1 for a square thumbnail on your product page. Center on the product, leaving some margin around it so the thumbnail doesn’t look cramped.

Cropping a landscape to vertical for a print

Pick 3:2, rotate if needed, then crop vertically within that ratio.

What’s preserved through cropping

The pixel data inside the crop rectangle, at full source resolution.
Transparency for PNG and WebP inputs.
Color information (though metadata color profile may be dropped — see below).

What’s stripped

EXIF metadata (camera, GPS, timestamps) — removed by canvas re-encoding.
Color profile beyond sRGB — dropped during re-encoding.
Original dimensions and offset — the cropped file is a fresh image.

For privacy-sensitive workflows, the automatic metadata stripping is a feature. For color-critical work (photography that relies on embedded Display P3 profiles), use a desktop editor instead.

Tips for better crops

Leave breathing room. Cropping tight to your subject usually looks cramped. A 10–15% margin around the subject feels more considered.
Think about the rule of thirds. Position the subject at one of the intersection points of an imagined 3×3 grid. Don’t always center.
Match aspect to destination. Cropping to the target aspect ratio up front prevents the destination platform from re-cropping (and often cropping badly).
Zoom into the interesting part. A wide photo where the subject occupies only 20% of the frame usually benefits from cropping.

Common mistakes

Cropping to a square when the destination actually wants portrait or landscape.
Forgetting to check the output dimensions. A tiny crop of a large image works; a tiny crop of a small image leaves you with a low-resolution output.
Expecting the tool to upscale after cropping. It doesn’t. If you crop to 400×400 from a 4000×4000 image, the output is 400×400. For upscaling, use our resizer or an ML-based tool.
Using Free crop when the destination wants a specific ratio. Set the aspect first, then adjust.

Image Cropper