Downsizing: easy to do well
When you shrink an image, several pixels are merged into one. Done in a single crude step, this can create jagged edges and moiré patterns. Good tools scale in several steps with high-quality smoothing — Resize image does this automatically, so even 4000 → 800 px stays clean.
Enlarging: why it usually disappoints
Enlarging has to invent pixels that were never captured, so the result looks soft. AI upscalers can guess detail convincingly, but they still create, rather than recover, information. If you need a bigger print, try to find the original file or a higher-resolution version first.
Settings that keep quality
- Keep the aspect ratio unless you deliberately want to crop — use Crop image for that, never stretch.
- Enable “Do not enlarge” when processing mixed batches.
- Save photos as JPG or WebP at 85–92% quality; save graphics with text as PNG.
- Resize first, then compress — compressing a huge image and then shrinking it wastes quality.
- Always work from the original, not from an already compressed copy.
Common target sizes
| Use | Longer side |
|---|---|
| Email attachment, messengers | 1600–2048 px |
| Website content | 1200–1600 px |
| Social media posts | 1080 px wide |
| Online forms with KB limits | 800–1200 px |
Frequently asked questions
Does resizing remove EXIF data?
Yes, files saved by these tools do not contain metadata such as GPS location.