How to Resize an Image in Microsoft Paint

Co-authored by Boris Polissky and Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: April 24, 2024 Fact Checked

This wikiHow teaches you how to enlarge, shrink, or crop an image in Microsoft Paint. The first two maintain the native aspect ratio while the latter removes the outer area from the image.

How to Resize a Picture and Preserve its Aspect Ratio

Make a copy of your image and open it in Microsoft Paint.
Click “Resize” under the “Image” section in the Paint toolbar.
Select “Percentage” and “Maintain Aspect Ratio,” then type a number between 1 and 500 in the “Horizontal” text box.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Enlarging or Shrinking an Image

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1
Make a copy of the image you want to resize. Go to the image you want to resize, right-click it, and click Copy in the drop-down menu, then right-click an empty space in the folder or on the desktop and click Paste.
- Failing to make a copy of the image will result in the original image being modified.
Doing so will prompt a drop-down menu.

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This option is toward the middle of the drop-down menu. A pop-out menu will appear.
It's in the pop-out menu. Doing so will open your selected image in the Paint program.^{[1]
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This option is on the middle-right side of the "Image" section at the top of the Paint window.^{[2]
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Make sure "Percentage" has a black dot next to it. If not, click the circle next to "Percentage" to ensure that your image's changes will be measured in percents.^{[3]
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- Your image will start at 100 for both the vertical and horizontal values, so changing these to "75" will reduce your image to three-quarters of its original size.
- If you know the exact horizontal or vertical pixel count you want, you can click the circle next to "Pixels" instead.
7
Check the "Maintain aspect ratio" box. If there is no checkmark in the box next to "Maintain aspect ratio", click the box; otherwise, any changes you make to one aspect of your image (e.g., vertical size) won't scale with the other aspects.^{[4]
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- If this box is already checked, proceed to the next step.
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Resize your image. Type a number between 1 and 500 into the "Horizontal" text box. Any number below 100 will cause your image to shrink while maintaining its dimensions, and any number over 100 will enlarge the image while maintaining the dimensions.
- If you're resizing using pixels, type the number of vertical pixels you want to use into the "Vertical" text box. You can also uncheck the "Maintain aspect ratio" box and enter a different number than was initially used in the "Horizontal" text box if necessary.
Doing so will apply your changes to the image.
Press Ctrl+S to do so. This will save your changes to the image.^{[5]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Cropping an Image

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1
Understand what cropping accomplishes. Cropping an image can only result in a smaller section of the image, but the cropped section will retain its quality. This is ideal if you're trying to remove excess parts of your photo while maintaining its resolution.
- Cropping an image will also make the image's file size smaller.
2
Make a copy of the image you want to resize. Go to the image you want to resize, right-click it, and click Copy in the drop-down menu, then right-click an empty space in the folder or on the desktop and click Paste.
- Failing to make a copy of the image will result in the original image being modified.
Doing so will prompt a drop-down menu.
This option is toward the middle of the drop-down menu. A pop-out menu will appear.
It's in the pop-out menu. Doing so will open your selected image in the Paint program.
Select is in the "Image" section of the Home tab at the top of the "Paint" window. A drop-down menu will appear.
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Click Rectangular selection. It's the first option in the drop-down menu here.
- If you want to be able to draw your own selection, click Free-form selection instead.
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Click and drag over the image. Doing so will drag a rectangular dotted line over the image; anything inside of the dotted line will remain when you crop the image.^{[6]
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- If you're trying to remove a border from a photo, the best way to do so is to click in the top-left corner and drag diagonally into the bottom-right corner (or similar).
- To remove the dotted line and start over, click anywhere outside of the area surrounded by dotted lines.
It's at the top of the "Image" section of options and to the right of Select. Clicking this button will remove everything outside of the dotted lines, leaving only the part of the image that's inside.
Press Ctrl+S to do so. This will save your copied image as a cropped file rather than as the original image.

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Question

I have an image that I need to size at 2" x 3" landscape before emailing it, so that it prints that size, no matter who prints it. What can I do?

Community Answer

The best option is to copy the image into another program, such as Microsoft Word or Open Office Draw, so that you can view what dimensions it will print out beforehand and not worry about the printer stretching the image.

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If I crop an image, do I only see a tiny image of the cropped photo?

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No. It crops wherever you selected. If you use the crop tool on a human face, it will remove everything but the face.

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When I resize up to 125 percent, it does not increase the size when I print it. How can I get the printed size increased?

Community Answer

First, save your image, with a different filename/extension, then replace the initial source with a new one.

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When printing your resized image, make sure your printer's settings aren't automatically resizing the image before printing.

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Reducing an image's size, even by a little, makes the image's file size smaller.

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Warnings

Consider resizing a copy of the image rather than the original image itself. To copy the original file: right-click the image, click Copy, and then right-click the desktop and click Paste. You can then right-click the copied image and proceed with opening it in Paint.

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Enlarging an image will reduce its quality.

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