To edit photos quickly and efficiently, you do not necessarily need professional tools. The following web programs allow you to crop and resize images quickly and efficiently. We have tested some of the online image editors for you and compared their results and quality. If you edit photos only occasionally, we have also discovered some tools that produce the desired outcome with just a few clicks – even if you want to crop round shapes.
Often poor photos can be rescued by changing the focus or cropping parts of the image – a typical example of using the cropping tool. Fixed image sizes in contrast are often required for profile pictures on social media sites or other platforms to prevent distorted photos or images cut off in the wrong place. Both is often true for passport photos. They must be sized 3.5 x 4.5 cm and cropped in a particular way.
Content
- The comparison
- Online editors without registration
- Online editors with registration
- Quick editors for square or round cropping and resizing images
The comparison
| Ease of use |  |  |  | | |
| Input formats | | | | |  |
| Selection of aspect ratios | |  | | | |
| Quality after resizing the image* | | | | | |
| Save options | | | | | |
| Editing time | | | | | |
| Responsive | no | no, but the app | no, but the app | no | no, but the app |
| Registration necessary | no | no | no | no | yes |
| Special functions | Simple design for quick editing | Enlarging and round cropping possible | Clearly structured design and high-performance app | Various cropping and scaling options | A lot of aspect ratios for social media |
* Below we will compare images edited in the respective tools with the results achieved in Photoshop. The result was always saved in jpg. format in the highest possible quality. We used the bicubic method in Photoshop (smooth transitions).
Online editors without registration
Editor.Pho.to
The tool provides some common image editing functions including retouch or effect tools. To resize or crop images here, you have to use the “Editor”. The crop function is easy to spot in the clearly laid out sidebar.
- Facts
- No registration
- Free
- Not optimized for mobile devices
- Editing of png, jpg and gif files
- Cropping
- Possible in any size or in three default aspect ratios such as 4:3 or 16:9.
- Width and height can be specified exactly in px.
- Resizing
- Not a lot is possible here. You can scale the image size when saving, however only in the existing image proportions.
- Original dimensions cannot be exceeded, so enlarging the image is not possible.
- Saving
- Export to jpg and png files
- Five export quality levels
Resume: Editor.Pho.to is highly useful for quick cropping of photos and has a clearly structured layout. But the tool does not provide a lot of flexibility for resizing images. However, five export quality levels are available which have a positive impact on the editing result.
Pixlr Editor
The Pixlr editor offers a variety of editing options and its user interface is similar to Adobe Photoshop. You can work also with layers here and a toolbar on the left shows a selection of common tools. The history gives an overview of the previous editing steps allowing them to be undone at any time. To edit images online using the Pixlr editor, Adobe Flash Player has to be installed and enabled in your browser which is why Google Chrome is the best browser for using the Pixlr editor. You can even install browser extensions for faster editing in Google Chrome for this tool.
- Facts
- No registration
- Free
- Pixlr app available
- Editing of png, jpg and gif files
- Cropping
- Possible in any size but not with fixed aspect ratios
- The exact width and height can be entered in px.
- Resizing
- Scaling is possible in any way with a good performance time.
- In the following pictures, you see the result of enlarging and reducing the image. We enlarged and reduced the image by factor ten.
- Saving
- Export to jpg, png, bmp, tiff and pxd files (special file format for editing in Pixlr)
- You can also choose between different qualities for the export.
Conclusion: Pixlr offers a wide variety of online editing options for photos. Therefore, inexperienced users may take some time to find their way around the program’s user interface. The numerous editing options and the editing result, especially of enlarging and reducing the image, are the major pros of this tool. It is ideal for users who are experienced in editing photos.
Tip: The program also offers a selection tool to crop round images.
Aviary
Aviary is a lean editor from Adobe which is also available as a mobile version. The reduced number of editing functions is clearly laid out and depicted by self-explaining icons for quick and easy editing. Individual steps can be undone using the “Back” arrow.
- Facts
- No registration
- Free
- Aviary app available
- Editing of png, jpg and gif files
- Cropping
- Possible in any size or in some default aspect ratios such as 4:3 or 16:9.
- The exact height and width can be entered in px.
- Resizing
- Original dimensions cannot be exceeded, so enlarging photos is not possible.
- Saving
- Edited photos are always saved as png files.
- No quality levels can be selected.
Conclusion: Aviary has good performance and comes with a lot of editing options for a web tool. Unfortunately, enlarging photos is not possible despite the wealth of editing features. The selection from standard aspect ratios is, however, very useful for cropping photos.
FotoJet
Besides editing photos, FotoJet also allows creating designs and collages online. The resize and crop functions are quickly spotted in the menu and are operated intuitively. Here, too, individual steps can be undone using the “Back” arrow.
- Facts
- No registration
- Free
- Not optimized for mobile devices
- Editing of png, jpg and gif files
- Cropping
- Possible in any size or in default aspect ratios such as 4:3 or 16:9.
- Additionally, the program offers fixed aspect ratios optimized for social media channels.
- The exact height and width can be entered in px.
- Resizing
- The image size can be scaled freely and enlarging is thus possible.
- Saving
- Export to jpg and png files
- No quality levels can be selected.
Conclusion: We recommend this tool especially to enlarge images if you want to apply further editing steps. The intuitive layout of the tool is also ideal for inexperienced users.
Online editors that require registration
Fotor
A clearly structured menu and clearly identifiable naming make for easy navigating of the functions. Fotor combines different editing steps in larger menu items. Cropping and reduction options for photos can be found in the “Basic” menu. The integrated share function enables users to post their edited photos on social media sites in the right dimensions.
- Facts
- Registration necessary
- Free
- Fotor app available
- You can edit png and jpg files here; theoretically svg and gif files are also possible, but opening these files strongly impairs the tool’s performance.
- Cropping
- Possible in any size or in default aspect ratios such as 4:3 or 16:9
- Additionally, the tool offers predefined aspect ratios optimized for social media sites.
- The exact height and width in px can be entered.
- Resizing
- You cannot exceed original dimensions, so enlarging is not possible.
- Saving
- To save photos, you have to register for free.
- You can export to jpg and png files.
- Two quality levels are possible.
Conclusion: The free version of Fotor already comes with many useful functions for users. The relatively large selection of existing aspect ratios facilitates editing especially for less experienced users.
Quick editors
Online cropping and resizing with iloveimg.com
- Editing of png, jpg and gif files
- Export to png, jpg and gif files
- Images can be cropped and scaled freely
Round cropping with topster.de
- Simple interface
- Editing of png, jpg and gif files
- Export to png, jpg and gif files
- Image size cannot be scaled
- Round and oval cropping possible
Free scaling of photos with bilder-editieren.de
- Simple interface
- Editing of png and jpg files
- Export to jpg and gif files
- Free scaling of the image size
Enlarging photos with imageenlarger.com
- Simple interface
- Editing of png, jpg, gif and bmp files (the latter can result in colour reproduction problems)
- Export to jpg and png files
- Images can be scaled freely using a zoom factor or the exact dimensions.
- Additionally, different enlargement and reduction options and their different results are offered for selection and export.
