How to resize an image online
Whether you need a photo to fit a 1080-pixel Instagram square, hit an upload size limit, or shrink for a faster-loading web page, resizing takes just a few seconds — and you can do it privately in your browser.
"Resizing" means changing an image's dimensions — its width and height in pixels. That's different from cropping (which cuts parts away) and from compressing (which reduces file size without changing dimensions). Getting the size right matters: an image that's too large slows down web pages and wastes bandwidth, while one that's too small looks blurry when stretched.
Step by step
- Open your image. In the PixPolish editor, drag your photo in or click Open from computer.
- Open the resize tool. Go to Image → Resize (sometimes shown as Image size).
- Enter your target size. Type the width or height you want in pixels. Keep "maintain aspect ratio" (the lock/link option) turned on so the image doesn't stretch or squash — the other dimension updates automatically.
- Apply. Confirm, and the canvas updates to the new size.
- Export. Use File → Save/Export and choose PNG for graphics or JPG for photos.
What size should I use?
- Social media: square posts are commonly 1080×1080 px; most platforms display around 1080 px wide, so there's rarely a need to go larger.
- Web pages: match the space where the image appears — a full-width banner might be ~1600 px, a thumbnail ~300 px. Bigger than needed just slows the page.
- Email attachments: resizing to ~1500 px on the long edge usually keeps quality while cutting the file size dramatically.
Avoid this common mistake
Enlarging a small image doesn't add detail — it just stretches existing pixels, so the result looks soft. Whenever possible, start from the largest original you have and scale down. If you must scale up, do it modestly.