Sometimes, no matter how good of a photographer you are, photos simply need to be cropped. Maybe you want to get rid of a busy background, cut something (or someone) out of an image, emphasize something, or just fine-tune the composition. The crop tool is one of the most basic yet fundamental editing tools available. Cropping is especially useful for bloggers, influencers, and other professional content creators. Audiences engage more with clean, compelling images that communicate a vision, a message, and positively reinforce a brand.

With PicsArt, you can crop images in many different ways. Follow the instructions below to learn how to use the PicsArt Crop tool on your phone or mobile device, or to crop an image online via desktop or laptop.

Crop Photos Directly From Your Phone

• Upload Your Photo

Upload a JPG to the PicsArt app. You can also choose an image from the #FreeToEdit library. That way you can experiment with different images, before diving into your own creation.

• Apply the Crop Tool

Scroll through the editor panel at the bottom of your screen and tap on Tools. Now choose the Crop tool. You will notice a grid appear over your photo, with adjusters allowing you to select the crop area. You do not need to click away from the Free Crop tool at the bottom of your screen. At this point, you can decide whether you’d like to trim your photo a little or a lot, to customize your image. 

• Save Your Changes

Click Apply at the top right of your screen to make sure changes are made. Now you’re ready to save the file to your device or share your work with the PicsArt community.

How Do You Resize an Image?

What if you want to keep your entire photo as is, but simply want to change its size? PicsArt allows you to set a custom crop ratio to maintain your photo’s aspect ratio (i.e. the relationship between the width and height of your image). This means your photo will look exactly the same, but it will be custom sized. Editing with the aspect ratio in mind can be the difference between a great photo and a bad one. If you want to resize your photo to a preset aspect ratio, PicsArt makes it easy to keep your constraints clear and proportional. To set a custom crop ratio, tap on the preset dimensions at the top of your screen. Adjust the width and height of your custom crop ratio and adjust to get to your ideal dimensions. Select OK to apply your changes. 

Among the most common custom aspect ratios is 3:4, which is the typical ratio for a portrait photo orientation. There’s 4:3, the ideal ratio for a landscape photo orientation. And 16:9, the widescreen aspect ratio which is the most common for TV and computer monitors. You’ll find these crop dimensions presets at the bottom of your screen. 

For all content creators and social media gurus out there, the PicsArt cropping tool makes it easy to optimize image sizes for different social media platforms. Scroll through the menu at the bottom of your screen to find preset recommended image dimensions for your Instagram feed (in square and portrait orientation) and Stories, Facebook posts and cover photos, Pinterest posts, Twitter posts and header photos, and YouTube videos. 

How Do You Use the Free Crop Tool?

Want to create the most precise crop, or, on the flip side, go wild with your cropped image? The Free Crop tool lets you freehand select your crop, by not limiting where or how you snip your photo. The Free Crop tool lets you select a specific area of the photo you would like to crop out, like a person’s entire body or their face, hair, or head. You can even select the subject of your photo and crop out the background. 

The Brush option allows you to sweep over the photo to freely choose the areas you would like to retain or isolate from the photo. You can choose the size of your brush to sweep over the photo to select the crop area. Select the Erase option to delete unwanted areas of your photo. You can also choose the size of your brush with this option to select the crop area. This effect will create a negative space in your photo. Use the Lasso tool to draw a freeform segment on your photo and isolate the selected area by snipping it out of the photo.

How Do You Crop Pictures Into Shapes

Once you know about the Shape Crop tool, it will quickly become one of your favorite photo editing tricks. Ditch the standard square or rectangular crop and go for a fun shape that will add a custom, playful look to collages, or to create printable sticker designs. 

• Upload Your Photo

Upload your image to the PicsArt app using your usual editing process.

• Apply the PicsArt Shape Crop Tool

Scroll through the editor panel at the bottom of your screen and tap on Tools. Find and tap on the Shape Crop tool. You will notice a wide selection of different shapes to give your photo a funky flair. From a traditional square, triangle, or circle, to more stylized shapes like badges, lightning bolts, and even ice cream cones, the options are endless. Tap on the shape you would like to crop your photo into. You can move the shape around to your desired crop area and even expand its borders to give you a bigger area to work with.

• Play with Borders and Colors

Now that you’ve cropped your photo into a cool shape, you can adjust the width of its border, completely eliminate the border, or customize the color of the outline. Choose from the wide variety of preset colors or create a custom color using the eyedropper tool to find a complementary color from your image or the color wheel to choose a unique hue.

• Apply Your Changes

Select the checkmark at the top right of your screen and proceed to save and post your latest creation.

How Do You Crop a Video From Your Phone?

Crop and trim your videos to remove unnecessary or unwanted portions. Give your videos a professional look with the PicsArt Video Crop tool. 

• Upload Your Video

Upload your video file to PicsArt using your usual editing process.

• Choose Your Crop Style

Select the Free Crop option, choose the desired aspect ratio, or pick one of the presets for recommended dimensions for social media sharing at the bottom of your screen. At the top of your screen, you will notice two other editing options that allow you to switch the orientation of your video file from vertical to horizontal and rotate for a different view. 

• Apply Your Changes

Tap on Apply at the top right of your screen to save and post your cropped video.

Where Can You Crop Photos Online?

Think you have to stick to your phone or mobile device to crop your photos? The online Picsart Photo Crop tool offers the same features you would find on a smaller device right on your laptop or desktop.

How Do You Crop a Picture on Your Phone?

Download the PicsArt app to access thousands of photo editing tools, just like the Crop tool, and connect with millions of fellow content creators to share your unique artworks.

Now that you’re a photo-and-video-cropping master, it’s time to start cropping your edits to perfection. What will you create?

Make Awesome

PicsArt all-in-one Photo and Video Editor, Collage, and Sticker Maker is the world’s largest creative platform with over 150 million monthly active creators and influencers. PicsArt has collaborated with major artists and brands like The Jonas Brothers, Gwen Stefani, Maroon 5, Lizzo, Meghan Trainor, One Direction, MONSTA X, Warner Bros. Entertainment, iHeartMedia, Condé Nast, and more. Download the app today to level-up your photos and videos with thousands of quick & easy editing tools, trendy filters, fun stickers, and brilliant backgrounds. Unleash your creativity with PicsArt and upgrade to Gold for awesome premium perks.