How do I crop an image to a specific pixel size?

Add the image, drag the frame over what you want to keep, then type the exact width and height. The pixel size is shown above the frame as you drag, so you are never guessing, and typing the numbers directly means you hit them exactly rather than approximately. If the shape matters as well, lock a ratio first and type one dimension - the other follows automatically so the proportion cannot drift while you aim at a number.

What is the difference between cropping to 600 pixels and resizing to 600 pixels?

Cropping cuts everything outside the frame away, so you keep 600 pixels of the original image at its original scale and lose whatever was outside. Resizing keeps the entire image and squashes it into 600 pixels, so nothing is lost from the edges but the picture is distorted if the shape changes. If a form demands a square and your photo is a wide landscape, cropping is nearly always the right answer, because resizing would compress everyone in the photo horizontally. Resize only when the whole image has to survive.

Why can I not see the pixel size in most crop tools?

Because they treat cropping as a purely visual act, which it usually is not. People crop because something has to be a specific size - a profile picture, a marketplace listing, a form upload. Hiding the numbers behind the drag means hitting exactly 600 pixels wide comes down to luck and a steady hand. Here the size is shown as you drag, and you can type it directly.

Does cropping reduce the quality of my photo?

A little, if you save as JPG. The browser has to decode the image and re-encode the part you kept, and JPEG is lossy every time it is written. The loss at high quality is very hard to see, but it is real and it accumulates if you crop the same file repeatedly. Choosing PNG avoids it completely, at the cost of a much larger file.

What do the ratio presets actually mean?

They are the shapes things are usually asked for. Square is profile pictures on nearly every platform. 3:4 is portrait, the shape most ID and document photos want. 16:9 is video and cover images. 9:16 is a phone screen, which is what stories and reels use. Free lets the frame be any shape at all.

Can I crop to a specific ratio and a specific size at once?

Yes. Lock the ratio with a preset, then type either the width or the height - the other follows automatically, so the shape is preserved. If you need the file to also come in under a byte limit, crop here first and then use our resize tool, which hits an exact pixel size and an exact KB target together.

Crop an Image to Exact Pixels

Drag a frame, lock it to a ratio, or type the exact pixel size you need. The numbers stay visible the whole time, and nothing is uploaded from your device.

Cropping is usually about a number

People rarely crop for purely artistic reasons. They crop because something has to be a specific size — a profile picture that must be square, a marketplace photo with a fixed shape, a form that wants 600 pixels wide.

Almost every free cropper hides that number behind the drag. You pull a corner, eyeball it, download, check, and go back. Here the pixel size sits above the frame as you drag it, and you can type it directly if you already know what you need.

How to crop to an exact pixel size

Add the image. It is read on your device; nothing is uploaded.
Drag the frame roughly over the part you want to keep.
Type the width and height you need. The pixel size sits above the frame the whole time, so you are never guessing.
Download.

If the size is fixed but the shape matters too, lock a ratio first and then type one dimension — the other follows, so the shape cannot drift while you are aiming at a number.

⚠️ Cropping to 600 px and resizing to 600 px are not the same thing

This is the single most common mix-up, and it is worth thirty seconds because picking the wrong one quietly ruins the picture.

Cropping to 600 × 600 cuts everything outside the frame away. What is left is 600 × 600 of the original pixels, at their original scale. Nothing is stretched, and part of the photo is gone.
Resizing to 600 × 600 keeps the whole picture and squashes it into that shape. Nothing is lost from the edges, but if the original was not already square, faces and text get visibly distorted.

So: if a form says "600 × 600" and your photo is a wide landscape, cropping is almost always what you want — resizing would squeeze a 16:9 image into a square and make everyone in it look compressed.

The exception is when the whole image must survive. Then resize, and accept the shape change, or crop to the right ratio first and resize after.

The ratio presets say what they are for

"1:1" means nothing to somebody who has been told their profile picture must be square. So the presets are named for the job:

Square — profile pictures, nearly everywhere
Portrait 3:4 — the shape most ID and document photos want
Landscape 4:3 — standard camera photos
Wide 16:9 — video thumbnails and cover images
Story 9:16 — a phone screen, for stories and reels
Free — any shape at all

Lock a ratio and type one dimension; the other follows, so the shape cannot drift.

JPG loses a little. PNG loses nothing.

This is the honest trade, and it is worth understanding once.

To crop, the browser decodes your image, keeps the part inside the frame, and writes a new file. If that new file is a JPEG, it is compressed again — and JPEG compression is lossy every single time it is applied. At high quality the loss is very hard to see, but it is real, and it stacks up if you crop the same photo repeatedly.

PNG stores the cropped pixels exactly, with no re-compression at all. The file is considerably larger. For a photo destined for the web, JPG is almost always right; when the pixels genuinely matter, PNG is there.

What this does not do

It does not resize what you kept. The crop is the output — if you need it scaled to a different pixel size as well, or under a KB limit, use resize a photo to exact pixels and file size.
It does not open HEIC. Convert an iPhone photo with HEIC to JPG first.
It does not straighten. A sloping horizon is a rotation problem, not a cropping one.

This tool runs entirely inside your browser. Your file is never uploaded — it never leaves your device, so there is nothing for us or anyone else to read, store or leak.

Crop an image to an exact pixel size