Crop vs Resize: When to Use Each

People say “resize” when they mean two different jobs. Resizing changes how many pixels the whole image has. Cropping cuts away edges to change framing or aspect ratio. Mixing them up is why faces stretch or important content gets cut off.

What resizing does

Resize scales the entire canvas. A 4000×3000 photo can become 1600×1200 with aspect ratio locked. Nothing is cut off; everything gets smaller (or larger if you allow upscaling).

• Use exact width/height when a layout needs a specific box → Image Resizer.
• Use percentage or max edge for batches → Resize Image.
• Use a 1000 px width preset → Resize to 1000 px.

What cropping does

Crop selects a region and discards the rest. That changes composition and can change aspect ratio (for example square product shots). Cropping does not “squish” the subject the way unlocking aspect ratio on a resize can.

Open Crop ImageFrame first, then resize if you still need a pixel limit.

Common workflows

1. Product photo for a square grid: crop to square, then resize to the store’s pixel size.
2. Blog hero: resize max width to ~1600 px; crop only if you need a different focal framing.
3. Form under 100 KB: resize or crop excess pixels first, then use target-size compression.

Keep aspect ratio unless you mean to stretch

For resize, leave aspect ratio locked unless you intentionally want a different proportion. If you need a new proportion, crop to that ratio first, then resize. More detail is in how to resize without distorting.