Mastering the Art of Image Resizing on Windows and Mac

If you are creating images digitally, you’ll eventually need to make minor tweaks before you can send something...photos in the internet age, and most of us need to do it every now and then. Both Windows and Mac offer a great array of built-in and third-party image editors to pick from and resize them to your liking, so you’ll always have the perfect size for your photos. This guide will walk you through some of the quickest and easiest ways to resize images.

OPENING Doors to Easy Resizing in Windows

And if you’re on Windows, then there are a couple of simple options to resize pictures – no need to start messing about with expensive and complicated photo-editing software. Let’s get started. 1. Tweak your pics in the Photos app 2. Create a colossal mess with Paint.

Open and Resize with the Photos App

Apple’s Photos app appears to be the quickest light-touch tool by default: 1. Launch Photos app. 2. Select the image. 3. Choose ‘edit’ in the top right. 4. Slide the ‘exposure’ icon to the right, brighter; to the left, darker. 5. Press the checkmark to apply the changes.

• Open your image in the Photos app.
• Click the ... (ellipsis) button on the menu bar, then select "Resize image."
• Fill in the required width and height or select from one of the provided standard sizes. Check out preview of the resulting file size to make sure it meets the requirements.
• Adjust the size and dots-per-inch to desired, and save the resized image to a location of your choice.

Don’t forget that saving with the same file name will overwrite the original, so perhaps keep the original as well if needed.

Paint Your Way to the Perfect Size

If the Photos app doesn’t work for you, Paint allows for a simpler approach that still leaves you a little more room for manual tweaks:

• Right-click your image, choose "Open with," and select Paint.
• Dismiss the menu by clicking on the X2 and select Resize in the top menu. Resize by percentage or pixels, but keep the aspect ratio so you don’t distort it.
• Preview, make any further tweaks, and then save your resized masterpiece with ease.

Embrace the Power of OPEN-Source with PowerToys

PowerToys is particularly useful for those of us who have to deal with big sets of images: a tool developed by Microsoft and intended for simple collaboration with the open-source community, lets you resize the images in bulk. There’s a simple set-up and from that moment on you can resize thousands of images at a time, according to the settings you like the most.

Unlocking the Magic of Image Resizing on Mac

Mac users enjoy another shortcut thanks to the Preview application included with macOS. This section opens the door to using Preview to resize images, both singly and in batches.

Resize with Preview: A Quick Guide

• Open your image in Preview and select "Adjust Size" from the Tools menu.
• Pick from presets or enter custom dimensions, adjusting pixel density if needed.
• Save your resized image: Preview replaces your original by default, so you’ll always want to make backups of your originals.

Going Beyond Simple Resizing

When Upsizing is the Goal

Resizing down is easy, but enlarging without losing quality takes far more powerful software. For the rare times in which you need a little more resolution than you started with, dedicated image upscalers such as ILoveIMG can get the job done, although the number of free upscales is limited.

Navigating Through Numerous Resizing Options

Whether you use a Mac or Windows, this guide provides a route for you to your image-resizing skills by either leveraging the built-in tools or some more heavy-duty solutions like PowerToys and Preview, so that your images are just right for your requirements and remain high quality.

Exploring Open Possibilities

You’ve probably heard the word ‘open’ used in reference to software, and in particular to open-source projects, such as the PowerToys project. You can read about the goals of the open-source project on its Wikipedia page but here’s the gist of it: open-source software is developed together, usually by users and developers from all around the world. Anyone in the world can add features or search the source code for bugs and fix them. The results can be redistributed without permission from the author. Anyone can participate in this community of free exchange, sharing knowledge and making software better together. If you’ve ever talked to someone about open-source software, you’d likely have heard it being described in idealistic terms, as a way to make or support software that incorporates ‘the spirit of community’ and is ‘open to innovation’.