Picking a shape
The presets cover the shapes most places ask for.
- 1:1 for profile pictures and square feed posts.
- 4:5 for tall feed posts that take up more of a phone screen.
- 16:9 for video thumbnails, slides and wide banners; 9:16 for stories and full-screen phone formats.
- 3:2 and 2:3 for prints and the natural shape of many cameras.
- Original keeps your photo's own shape, and free lets you drag any shape you like.
How the suggestion is made
Two things guide where the box starts. The face finder, a 230 KB model, looks for faces so that heads are not cut off. Alongside it, the editor builds a detail map from the edges in the photo, which marks where the busiest, most interesting areas sit. The box is placed to keep both inside the frame.
It is a starting point, not a decision. Drag the box to move it and pull its corners to resize. A rule-of-thirds guide is drawn inside it, and placing eyes or the horizon near one of those lines usually makes a balanced picture.
If you would rather not download the face finder, the crop still works using the detail map alone. It just has no specific knowledge of where faces are.
Framing tips
Leave room in the direction a person is looking or a car is moving; a subject jammed against the edge feels cramped. Keep the top of the head inside a tight portrait crop unless you mean to cut close, and if you do, cut through the forehead rather than the chin. For group photos in a narrow shape such as 9:16, check that nobody at the sides has been dropped.
Crops for several platforms are easy to make from one photo. Apply one crop, export it, then step back in History and pick the next shape. The original stays one click away.
For landscapes, put the horizon on the upper or lower third line rather than through the middle, depending on whether the sky or the ground is more interesting. For products in a square, center the item, since listing grids look best when every product sits the same way.
Resolution after cropping
Cropping removes pixels, so a tight crop of a small photo can end up too small for its use. If that happens, Image upscaler can enlarge the cropped version afterwards.
If the crop is for print, check its pixel size before exporting. Print needs far more pixels per inch than a screen does.
What it will not do
- The suggestion is a guess at good framing; it does not know which person or object matters most to you.
- Small, turned or partly covered faces can be missed by the face finder, so check the box before applying.
- Without the face finder, the suggestion uses the detail map only.
- A tight crop of a small photo can leave too few pixels for large prints.
Devices and downloads
The face finder is a 230 KB download, MIT licensed. The editor shows its size, and it starts after one press of the tool's main button, then stays cached. It runs in a background worker, on WebGPU when available and on WebAssembly otherwise; at this size it takes a fraction of a second even on WebAssembly. The detail map is ordinary image arithmetic.
| Model | Download | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| Face finder | 230 KB | MIT |
On-device AI: A small neural network that runs on this device after a one-time download. See what is stored on this device.
Step by step
- Open your photo. Drop, paste or choose the image to crop.
- Choose a shape. Pick 1:1, 4:5, 3:2, 16:9, 9:16, 2:3, Original or free.
- Adjust the suggestion. Drag and resize the box, using the rule-of-thirds guide.
- Apply and export. Apply the crop, compare, and save.
Questions about smart crop
Which aspect ratio should I use for a tall social post?
4:5 suits tall feed posts, and 9:16 suits stories and other full-screen phone formats.
Can I crop without downloading the face finder?
Yes. Decline the download and the suggestion is based on the detail map alone. You can still move and resize the box freely.
How do I make several crops of the same photo?
Apply and export one crop, then click the earlier step in History and choose another shape.
Why did the suggested crop miss someone's face?
Small, turned or partly hidden faces can go undetected. Drag the box to include them before you apply.