PhotoPea is a free online photo and graphics editor that allows you to easily resize images. As a web developer with over 10 years of experience building websites, I often need to edit images to prepare them for the web.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the entire process of resizing images with PhotoPea, from opening an image file to exporting the resized version. Whether you’re a total beginner or an experienced designer, you’ll learn some useful tips and tricks along the way.
Table of Contents
Getting Started with PhotoPea
To get started with PhotoPea, simply go to www.photopea.com in your web browser. PhotoPea works in all modern browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
When the site loads, you’ll see the PhotoPea editing interface with toolbar menus along the top. This interface is very similar to other popular photo editors like Photoshop.
To open an image you want to resize, click “Open from Computer” then browse your files and select your image. Supported file types include JPG, PNG, PSD, SVG, and more.
Resizing Images in PhotoPea
Once your image is open in PhotoPea’s editing view, go to the top menu and click Image > Image Size. This will open the Image Size dialog box.
Image Size dialog box
Here you can enter new values for the width and height of your image. As you adjust one value, the other will scale proportionally by default to avoid distortion. You can also choose the resolution in pixels/inch.
For web images, I normally resize them to be 1000 pixels wide at 72 dpi resolution. This ensures crisp quality on high resolution displays.
Below the size fields, make sure “Resample Image” is checked. This setting shrinks or grows the total number of pixels to match your new size. If unchecked, the image will simply be cropped instead of resized.
Once your new size is entered, click OK to apply the changes. You’ll now have a perfectly resized version of your original image!
Maintaining Image Quality When Resizing
When downsizing images to make them smaller, you typically won’t notice much quality loss with PhotoPea. However, upsizing an image can cause it to become fuzzy or pixelated.
Here are some tips for maintaining quality:
- Avoid extreme upsizing like doubling an image’s dimensions. Resize in smaller increments instead.
- Start with a high resolution source image if possible. Images from new smartphones and DSLR cameras work great.
- Use the Sharpen filter after resizing to help compensate for softness. But don’t over-sharpen or it will look noisy.
- Try resizing your image in small increments, sharpening between each step, to prevent too much data loss.
Also keep in mind that some image compression and quality loss is inevitable when resizing for web use. As long as your final image looks sharp on screen at full size, that is what really matters.
Exporting the Resized Image
After resizing your image in PhotoPea, the last step is to export a copy to use on your website or elsewhere online.
Go to File > Export As in the top menu. This will open the export dialog window.
Export dialog window
Here you can choose the file format and quality. For web images, JPEG is the best choice at a quality of 60-80%. This ensures small file sizes while retaining great visual quality.
Name your resized image and choose where to save it on your computer. Click Export when ready and your image will be optimized and ready to upload online!
Conclusion
Learning how to properly resize images is an invaluable skill for any web designer or online content creator. With PhotoPea’s user-friendly interface and versatility, you can resize images for websites, social media, presentations, and more in just minutes.
The most important things to remember are:
- Use Image > Image Size to change pixel dimensions
- Check “Resample Image” to shrink/enlarge total pixels
- Export as JPEG at 60-80% quality for web images
- Avoid extreme upsizing to prevent quality loss
With practice resizing all types of images, you’ll be able to prepare great web graphics in no time! Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments.
