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Help / How to

Crop an image on Windows

The short answer: drop the picture on the Cropped Studio, pick a shape such as 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9 on the picture toolbar, drag the crop box over the part you want to keep, and click Optimize & Save. The cropped copy is saved in Downloads\Cropped, and your original is never changed.

The Cropped Studio on Windows 11 with a photo open: the queue on the left, the picture toolbar over the photo and Preferences on the right
The Studio on Windows 11.

Steps

  1. Drop the image on the Studio, or press Ctrl + O. JPEG, PNG, HEIC, WebP and AVIF all open.
  2. Pick a shape on the picture toolbar: Original, Free, 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9.
  3. Drag the box to move it, or drag a corner or edge to resize it. It snaps to edges in the picture; hold Ctrl to place it freely, or Shift to keep the ratio.
  4. For an exact size, type it in the W and H fields at the bottom right, or tick a size such as Instagram portrait under Export sizes.
  5. Click Optimize & Save (Ctrl + Enter). Cropped saves a smaller WebP, AVIF, JPEG or PNG.

Click Smart crop on the toolbar and Cropped centers the crop on the subject for you, on your PC, with no upload.

Crop many pictures at once

Drop several pictures, or a whole folder, on the Studio. They wait in the queue, so you can crop each one, then click Optimize to save them all. To give every file the same shape without opening them, pick a Crop ratio in the Drop Zone's Settings and drag the folder onto the Drop Zone. See Batch crop images.

Cropping with the apps that come with Windows

AppHow to cropWhat it can't do
CroppedPick a shape or size, drag, Optimize & Save
PhotosOpen the picture, click Edit image (Ctrl + E), then cropOne file at a time, no social media sizes
PaintSelect an area, then Crop (Ctrl + Shift + X)No ratios or presets, and it saves over the original unless you use Save as

Just one picture and no app to hand? The free image cropper on our website crops it in your browser, with nothing uploaded.

Next: Crop images and export social media sizes covers smart crop, rotate and flip, fill and every export size.

Still stuck? Click the ? button at the bottom left of the Cropped Studio to ask, send us a message, or request a feature.