Crop an image to the area you need

Keep the subject and remove the unused edges

Crop an image to keep a chosen area and remove the content outside it. Remove empty margins around a screenshot, narrow a product photo, or isolate a useful section of a larger image. Cropping changes which pixels remain visible. It does not squeeze the whole picture into a smaller space, so anything outside the crop area is left out of the downloaded result.

Start by deciding what the viewer must still see. A document crop needs every relevant line and number. A product crop may need room around the item rather than the tightest possible boundary. For an avatar, allow for the way the receiving service may crop the picture again. A useful crop area balances the subject with enough surrounding space to make the image understandable.

Further reading: Adobe: What cropping removes from a photo

Define the crop area in pixels

The crop area uses a starting position plus a width and height. The horizontal position measures the distance from the left edge, and the vertical position measures the distance from the top edge. The width of the crop controls how far the selection extends to the right. Its height controls how far it extends downward. These values describe pixels in the source image.

For example, on a 1600 by 1200 image, a crop beginning 200 pixels from the left and 100 pixels from the top with a width of 1000 and a height of 800 stays within the source. It removes different margins from each side. Check the preview rather than relying on arithmetic alone, especially when the important subject sits close to the edge of the crop area.

Preview the crop before downloading

The crop preview shows which content falls inside the crop area. Inspect all four edges, not only the center: a valid crop can still cut off hands, labels, punctuation, or part of a product.

A preview may be scaled to fit the screen, so the displayed size is not necessarily the output pixel size. Use the entered crop dimensions for the actual area and inspect the downloaded image for detail. Crop an image from its original version when trying another composition. A previously cropped copy no longer contains the removed margins, which limits later adjustments.

• Enter the left and top positions, followed by the width of the crop and its height.
• Check that the crop area stays within the original image and includes every needed detail.
• Move the starting position or increase the width of the crop if a subject is too close to an edge.
• Process the crop, then inspect the downloaded image at its actual size.

A square crop and a smaller image are different tasks

Set equal width and height for a square crop area. A rectangle needs different values. Choosing that shape removes content outside the selection; it does not preserve the entire original composition. The width of the crop therefore determines both its shape relative to the height and how much horizontal content remains in the result.

If the full composition is already correct and only the dimensions are too large, use the image resizer instead. If a destination requires both a shape and smaller dimensions, crop first and resize afterward. For example, select a square portion of a portrait and then reduce that square to the destination size. Avoid resizing a rectangular image into a square by stretching it.

Shared crop settings need similar source images

Batch cropping works best when the images share dimensions and a consistent layout, such as screenshots with the same margins. The same crop area can remove the same border from each image. Download completed results separately or together as a ZIP. Review the group before using it, because one screenshot may contain a label or button in a different place.

For a mixed set of portraits and landscapes, one crop area is unlikely to suit every composition. Check each source and process different groups separately where necessary. A selection must remain within the source boundaries, and a valid selection is not automatically a good composition. The width of the crop may fit several files while cutting away the subject in one of them.

Cropping is not a complete privacy check

Crop an image to remove unwanted visible areas, but inspect the content left inside the crop too. A reflection, document heading, or background sign may still reveal information. Cropping is also different from cleaning embedded metadata. If that information matters before sharing, use the metadata removal tool and check the final copy separately.

The image cropper processes files in your browser without uploading them. Save the cropped image as a separate copy and retain the original when you might need another composition. For content that must be permanently excluded from a shared file, send only the reviewed result, not the original or a ZIP that accidentally contains both versions.