An image comes in different sizes with numerous reasons why you may need to resize an image. Whether it is because of a specific size requirement for a website, email attachment, or even posting something on social media, resizing often happens to be an important part of your editing process. Even with something as simple as Microsoft Paint, built into Windows 10 by default, any basic need for resizing pictures will easily be done. It doesn't carry all the features of professional offerings like Adobe Photoshop; however, for a user who requires resizing pictures without too much complexity, Paint does the job.
In this tutorial, we will guide you through how to resize an image using Microsoft Paint. We will discuss the reasons you might need to resize and give you some tips that will help you avoid making common mistakes.
Before you start with the "how," it is essential to know why you need to resize images. Here are some common reasons:
Huge images consume a lot of space on your gadget or are difficult to share. In emailing images or even posting them online, sometimes sizes in files can become problematic. Resizing the image will reduce the size in files for easier sharing and storage.
Varying different kinds of social media have different pixels sizes expected on images. For example, a Facebook cover photo needs to be 820 x 312 pixels, while an Instagram post is usually 1080 x 1080 pixels. Resizing makes certain that your images fit nicely according to each dimension within the platform's specifications, thus making your visuals look professional and not taking as long to load.
At times, you might need an image to fit a given space, like in a document, presentation slide, or even template. Resizing helps achieve this; now, you can fit your images into the desired space without stretching or distorting.
Smaller images tend to load faster, and the better ones are for web pages and even social media profiles, and you can improve page load speeds by reducing the size of an image and enhance user experience as well as boost your website's SEO.
Microsoft Paint is a highly easy-to-use image resizing program. Follow these easy steps to resize images quickly and efficiently.
Find the image you want to resize on your computer. It could be in the Pictures folder, Downloads folder, or wherever the file is located. Open the image in the Microsoft Paint as follows:
. Right click on the image file.
.Select Open with and click Paint from the context menu.
.This shall open the Image in the Paint application where you shall be able to start the resizing process.
You need to look for the resize option in Paint after your picture has opened. And here's where you'd find it,
Right, above your Paint window look for the left-hand corner and go for Home button.
Scroll down within this section to Image, click Resize button, now the resize and skew dialog box appears which resamples the size of your image
There are two main options under the Resize and Skew dialog box: Percentage and Pixels. Here is a description of each:
Percent : Resize by percentage of the current size. If you enter a percentage, say 50 percent in both the horizontal and vertical fields, the image will shrink by half.
This is useful if you want to keep the image proportions but change its relative size from the original.
By Pixels: This option allows you to enter the exact dimensions of pixels for the width and height of the image. For example, maybe you have a picture that you need to be precisely 800 by 600 pixels for a Web page or email.
Pro: This is useful when you have requirements for specific dimensions in a particular platform or project.
As you do not want the scaling to cause distortion to your image, you will want to maintain the aspect ratio of your picture. The aspect ratio refers to the ratio of an image's width to its height. For instance, this means for every 4 units of width, there are 3 units of height in an aspect ratio of 4:3. If you wish to maintain the aspect ratio of the image so that it is not stretched or compressed, then you should check the Maintain aspect ratio checkbox in the Resize and Skew dialog.
Having selected your resizing option, you can now resize your image:
For example, you might enter 50% to shrink the image so that it is half its original size, or you might enter 800 x 600 pixels.
When you click OK, it resizes your image automatically on the basis of what you have selected.
Now that you have resized the image, it's time to save. To avoid messing up the original image, it would be best to save the resized image into another new file. To save your resized image:
Click File in the top-left corner of the window.
Save As using your desired file type, such as JPEG, PNG, or BMP.
Name your photo, if you wish and select where on your computer you would like to save it
Click Save: If you don't actually need a copy of the original image, you can literally just click Save. Paint will overwrite that file with a new copy, in this case, one that is a different size than you requested.
Avoid Over- Shrinking: Shrink the image too much and you will be reducing the quality of the image resulting in a pixelated or fuzzy look. If you must shrink the image, just don't shrink it any smaller than you have to.
Work with a Higher Resolution: The more starting resolution you work with the easier it will be to resize the image without losing much quality. This can be very important if you need to enlarge the picture.
Resize in Small Increments: If it is something you have to enlarge, do that in small increments so as not to pixelate the image. Thus, the details of the image are not lost.
Use the Right Size for Social Media: Depending on the social network, there is a required measurement for the image. Instagram recommends using a square image of 1080 x 1080 pixels, whereas Facebook calls for an 820 x 312 pixels cover photo. It always pays to check out the recommended sizes before resizing so that you will be able to fit your resized images.
Although Paint is a very simplistic tool, it can still cause some issues with the rescaling of images. Some of the common problems and their respective solutions are given below:
For example, once you zoom in an image to a great extent, then you see that all the pixels start appearing, thus making the image appear pixelated. To avoid this, you can zoom up your image by just a few percentages (more than 200-300%). Or, you may use high-resolution images from the beginning.
You will also typically see that the image becomes stretched or compressed, based on the orientation, if you check not to preserve the aspect ratio. While this might sometimes be what you want in some narrowly defined scenarios, distortion should normally be prevented through always preserving the aspect ratio or only altering it when it is desirable to alter.
Resizing an image too much, especially shrinking it too much, can result in losing detail. Always shrink incrementally, especially when shrinking the size of an image.
But if you need more advance features, here are some alternatives to Microsoft Paint for image resizing:
1. Windows 10 Photos App
You can also resize photos in Windows 10 with its built-in Photos app. It's super easy to use, and it's also excellent for batch resizing.
ResizeImage.net or PicResize.com can resize pictures online free, so you don't have to download programs. These are useful for small edits when Paint or other programs aren't available.
Irfan View is a free program with advanced resizing features, like batch resizing, without the hassle of Photoshop.
2. How do I avoid pixelation when enlarging an image?
Pixelate not. Do not enlarge the image by more than 200-300%. Always use a high-resolution image as your basis. It is the better option.
3. In which formats can I save an image resized with Paint?
You save the resized images in formats such as JPEG, PNG, BMP, and GIF. To save the picture, click on File > Save As and then select the format you want.
4. How do I resize an image for social media?
Each social media site has a different image requirement. An Instagram square post is 1080 x 1080 pixels. You might want to change your image to that suggestion, using the Pixels option in the Resize dialog box.
5. Can an image be cropped after being resized in Paint?
Yes! Once you have resized your image, you can use the Select tool to draw a line around the area you wish to retain and then click Crop to remove the rest.
Resizing images in Microsoft Paint is quite an easy and fast process. From preparing pictures for social media, emails, or even a website, Paint will help you resize images using simple means without having to utilize expensive software. Following these instructions you will be able to resize images with pixelation free and distortion free with a little more information being applied to your Windows 10 system, other programs for such tasks do exist.