How to resize an image in Paint on Windows 11 and 10

How to resize an image in Paint on Windows 11

Paint on Windows 11 resizes a picture in one dialog, Resize and skew, which Ctrl+W opens. Maintain aspect ratio is the setting that keeps the shape. These are How-To Geek’s steps for Windows 11’s Paint:

1. 1

   Open the image in Paint

   Right-click the file in File Explorer, choose Open with, then Paint.

2. 2

   Click Resize and skew

   The button sits in the Image group at the top of the window. Ctrl+W opens the same dialog.

3. 3

   Choose Pixels or Percentage

   Pixels sets an exact size, such as 1600 wide for a web page. With Maintain aspect ratio on, Percentage scales both sides by the same share.

4. 4

   Keep Maintain aspect ratio on, then type Horizontal

   Horizontal is the width and Vertical the height. With the setting on, the height follows the width. Virtual Curiosities shows it as a chain-link button between the two boxes.

5. 5

   Click OK, then save a copy

   Choose File, then Save as, and give the file a new name. The original stays as it was.

Microsoft redrew the Resize and Skew dialog for Windows 11 in November 2021, its Windows Insider blog says. Below Resize sits a Skew section, which slants the picture. Its values are degrees, from −89 to 89, according to eStudy247’s Paint lesson. Leave Skew at 0 for a plain resize.

Resize an image with Paint from the keyboard

Four shortcuts cover the whole job. Winaero’s list of Paint shortcuts gives Ctrl+W, Ctrl+E and Ctrl+Z.

• Ctrl+W opens the Resize and Skew dialog.
• Ctrl+E opens Image Properties, which holds the picture’s dimensions.
• Ctrl+A selects the whole picture, and Ctrl+Z undoes the last change.

Resize an image on Paint in Windows 10

Windows 10’s Paint keeps Resize on its Home tab. Microsoft’s Paint page describes that path. You select “the ‘Resize’ option from the ‘Home’ tab”. Then you set the new dimensions “in pixels or as a percentage of the original size”.

The dialog that opens is Resize and Skew. It has the same Percentage, Pixels and Maintain aspect ratio choices. Ctrl+W opens it from the keyboard too.

Pixels or percentage?

Choose Pixels when a site or form names a size. Choose Percentage when you only want the picture smaller. When the shape must change as well, crop first.

Does resizing reduce the file size?

Resizing does reduce the file size, though not in step with the pixels. A percentage applies to each side, so 50% keeps a quarter of the pixels. We put our 9.8 MB camera photo, 4964 × 2782 pixels, through Blinkimg’s engine at 4 percentages. Each side was rounded to the nearest pixel, and each copy saved as a JPG at Auto:

At 50%, the copy keeps 25% of the pixels. It keeps 35% of the full-size JPG’s bytes: 209.6 KB against 605.5 KB. At 10%, 496 × 278, it fell to 16.9 KB.

Why does my picture look stretched?

A picture stretches when Maintain aspect ratio is off and the new size does not match its shape. Paint then scales the 2 sides by different amounts.

Force our 4964 × 2782 photo to 1080 × 1080. The width shrinks to 0.2176 of itself and the height to 0.3882. So everything in the picture comes out 44% narrower than it should. A crop keeps the shape: it cuts the sides first, then scales both sides alike.

The 2 files weigh about the same: 88.4 KB stretched and 86.6 KB cropped, each a JPG at Auto. Only the shape differs. A crop loses the edges of the photo, and a stretch distorts everything in it.

Crop to the shape first, then resize

1. 1

   Click Select and draw around the part to keep

   Microsoft’s Paint page gives the crop: select the part to keep with the Select tool, then click Crop.

2. 2

   Click Crop

   Paint removes everything outside the selection.

3. 3

   Resize the cropped picture in Pixels

   Press Ctrl+W, choose Pixels, keep Maintain aspect ratio on and type the width.

Paint’s selection is drawn by hand, so an exact 4:5 or 16:9 is hard to hit. In a browser, the change image aspect ratio tool crops to a ratio you pick. To crop an image to an exact size in pixels, use the cropper.

Can Paint make a picture bigger without losing quality?

Enlarging cannot add detail the picture never had. The program spreads the same pixels over more of them and guesses the new ones from their neighbours. The guessing method is called a kernel, and Microsoft does not say which one Paint uses.

So we tried 3 standard kernels in sharp 0.35.4, the image library under Blinkimg’s engine. The engine itself never enlarges a picture, so we called the library directly. We shrank our photo to 25%, 1241 × 696, then enlarged it 2× and 4×. PSNR scores each result against the original at that size, and higher is closer:

The best kernel beat the worst by only 1.1 dB at 2× and 2.0 dB at 4×. The kernel changes how the loss looks, as blocks or as blur. None brings the lost detail back. Enlarge as little as you can, and start from the largest original you have.

Change the canvas, not the picture

The canvas is the area the picture sits on. Drag the small handles at its right edge, bottom edge or bottom-right corner. The canvas changes, and the picture keeps its scale. A larger canvas adds blank space. A smaller one cuts the picture from the right and bottom edges. Those are the steps in eStudy247’s Paint lesson and Virtual Curiosities’ guide.

For a print size such as 2 × 2 inches, work in pixels. At 300 pixels per inch, 2 inches is 600 pixels, so the square is 600 × 600. The resize image in inches tool does that sum for any size. The 2x2 passport photo tool crops a face to the US rules.

Can Paint reduce an image to a size in KB?

Paint cannot aim at a size in KB. It has no file size setting. So you guess a percentage, save, check the size in File Explorer and try again.

A Max file size runs that search for you. Under a 100 KB cap, the engine took the 2482 × 1391 copy to 99.7 KB, at quality 44. At 1241 × 696 it fitted at 96.9 KB, at quality 86. With fewer pixels, the same 100 KB holds a much higher quality.

Other ways to resize an image on Windows

Paint handles one picture at a time. Windows offers 2 other routes, and a browser a third:

• Photos. How-To Geek’s steps: open the photo in Photos, click the three dots at the top, then choose Resize image. Photos also offers a quality slider.
• PowerToys Image Resizer, for many files at once. After you install PowerToys, right-click the selected files in File Explorer. Then choose Resize with Image Resizer, Microsoft’s PowerToys page says. Its sizes work in centimeters, inches, percent or pixels, and each can Fill, Fit or Stretch.
• A browser. Resize image sets exact pixels on any computer, with the shape kept, cropped or fitted. For 50%, type half the width.

Paint 3D is no longer an option. Microsoft’s deprecated features page says it “was removed from the Microsoft Store on November 4, 2024”. Existing copies keep working, and Microsoft points to Paint or Photos for 2D images.

On other devices, read how to resize an image on Mac or how to resize an image on iPhone.