Aspect & crop
Try your photo in every aspect ratio: photo, social, cinema, panorama, classic film, and print. Includes a DPI calculator.
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Ratios, dpi and file size: a practical guide
For when you want to know why one ratio feels calm and another feels dynamic, and what you actually need in pixels for a clean print.
What an aspect ratio does to your image
A square frame feels calm. Static, even. It works fine for portraits and still life, but lacks room for action or width. A 3:2 or 16:9 suggests movement and breadth; a vertical 9:16 pulls the eye from top to bottom.
Aspect ratio shapes how the eye travels through your photo. The same subject in a different frame tells a different story. Portrait usually wants something tall or square, landscape something wide, but that is habit, not law. A vertical landscape works when height matters more than width; a horizontal portrait works when context outweighs the face.
Main takeaway: try your photo in several ratios before sticking with your camera default. The surprising crop often lies just outside habit.
DPI, PPI and pixels: not the same
Pixels are the raw material of your photo. Your sensor has a fixed number, your crop has fewer, and once the pixels run out no software can conjure detail back.
DPI means dots per inch and refers to how densely ink droplets sit on paper. PPI is the same idea for screens. The numbers are often used interchangeably, but the concept is constant: how many pixels per centimetre of print or screen.
Rules of thumb:
- 72 dpi: screens, web, social. More is wasted.
- 150 dpi: newsprint. Acceptable for large prints viewed from a distance.
- 240 dpi: good book quality.
- 300 dpi: photo, gallery and album standard.
- 360 dpi en hoger: giclée, fine art and specialty prints.
A 30 × 20 cm print at 300 dpi needs 3543 × 2362 pixels. If your photo lacks that, the image gets softer or visibly pixelated up close.
File size versus resolution
File size is about kilobytes and megabytes. Resolution is about pixels. They are separate things and easily confused.
Two photos with identical pixel dimensions can vary tenfold in file size. The difference lives in compression and format. A JPG at quality 60 is much smaller than the same JPG at 95. WebP usually stays smaller still without visible loss. PNG is big but lossless and handy for screenshots and graphics.
For web you want files as light as possible without visible loss. WebP at quality 80 is a safe baseline. For print you want plenty of pixels and minimal compression. Keep a TIFF or high-quality JPG as master and export separate web copies.
Which ratio for which purpose
- 3:2: full-frame, APS-C and most 35mm cameras. The standard most 35mm photography lives in.
- 4:3: micro four-thirds and nearly every phone. Slightly squarer, slightly calmer.
- 1:1: portraits, still life, social media. No preference for length or width.
- 4:5 staand: maximum vertical space on Instagram. Good for standing portraits.
- 9:16: Stories, Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts. Vertical for mobile.
- 16:9: YouTube, Twitter banner, monitor wallpaper, cinematic look.
- 65:24 (XPan): extreme panorama. Landscape, street, architecture. Demands detail and patience.
- 5:7, 8:10: large-format photography. Classic and calm, with a vertical version that carries weight in a photo book.
- A4 (1:√2): paper, prints, photo books. The European paper standard.
Classic film ratios
Not every ratio comes from a modern sensor. Several stem from a film era and owe their character to it.
- 6×6 (1:1) Hasselblad 500-series. Square medium-format. Timeless and formal.
- 6×7 (6:7 of 7:6) Mamiya RB67, Pentax 67. "Ideal" for a 20×24 cm print without cropping.
- 4×5 (4:5 of 5:4) large-format camera, view camera. What old-school pros used for landscape and architecture.
- 65:24 Hasselblad XPan, late 1990s. A 35mm camera that combined two frames into one panorama. Cult status among street and landscape photographers.
- 2.35:1 (CinemaScope) anamorphic lenses that squeezed widescreen onto a 35mm film strip. The Hollywood look.
Work in a modern ratio when your purpose calls for it. But take a look at the classics too. They usually had a reason for the choice they made.
Aspect Ratio & Crop: how it works
This tool lets you preview your photo in any aspect ratio and calculates the pixel dimensions required for a given print size and dpi. Use it when you want to check whether a crop actually works compositionally, or when you need to know if your file is large enough for a specific print. No guesswork, no spreadsheets.
Aspect ratios and how they shape your image
An aspect ratio defines the basic shape of your frame. 3:2 is the standard for full-frame cameras, 4:3 comes from compact cameras and most smartphones, 1:1 is square. These proportions affect how a viewer moves through the image and how much breathing room your subject gets.
If you know in advance what format or platform you are shooting for, you can plan the crop while you are still in the field. Shooting for a portrait magazine cover (2:3)? Leave that headroom in-camera. This tool lets you test that visually without opening an editor.
Pixels, print sizes and dpi: how the maths works
A 8x12 inch print at 300 dpi requires 2400 x 3600 pixels. The formula is straightforward: multiply the print size in inches by the dpi. The tool runs that calculation for any format you enter.
For commercial printing, 300 dpi is the standard. For larger prints viewed from a distance, like a 32x48 inch canvas, you can often go as low as 100 to 150 dpi without visible loss. If you want to find out the maximum printable size for a specific file, the Print Size Calculator covers that directly.
Frequently asked questions
Which aspect ratio should I use when shooting for both Instagram and print?
Shoot at your camera's native ratio (usually 3:2) and crop afterwards. For Instagram feed posts, 4:5 gives the most screen real estate. For print, match the ratio to your lab's standard sizes. Cropping from a larger file always gives you more flexibility than the other way around.
How many megapixels do I need for a 16x24 inch print at 300 dpi?
A 16x24 inch print at 300 dpi requires 4800 x 7200 pixels, roughly 34 megapixels. At 240 dpi, a 24 MP camera gets you there. For prints viewed at arm's length, 240 dpi is usually indistinguishable from 300.
Does cropping reduce my image quality for printing?
Cropping reduces the effective pixel count in your final image. Crop a 24 MP file in half and you are left with around 6 MP, which works fine for screens but limits your print size. This tool shows you exactly how many pixels remain after a crop so you can check against your target print dimensions before committing.