How to Downsize Pictures on a Computer

The very large pictures produced by modern digital cameras are perfect for printing, but they are less than ideal for emailing or posting on a website because of the large file sizes that go hand-in-hand with large pictures. Before you can send a large picture via email, you need to resize the picture. You can downsize large pictures before emailing them to make them easier for your friends and family to download.

Things You'll Need

• GIMP image editing software (optional)

Instructions

Resizing a Picture with Software

1. Launch GIMP. Click on the "File" menu, and then select "Open." Browse to the location of the picture that you need to resize, and double-click on it.

   Note: GIMP is a free program that is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. You can click on the link in the Resource section to download it. For a solution that does not involve installing software, see Section 2.

2. Click on "Image," and then click on "Scale Image."

3. Click in the box labeled "Width" or "Height," and type in a number in pixels that you would like to represent the new dimensions of the image. The other dimension changes automatically, so the image retains the correct proportions. Alternatively, click on the drop-down menu on the right side of the window to input a new size for the image in terms of the relative percentage or other measurements, such as inches. To resize the image without maintaining its proportions, click on the chain-shaped icon.

4. Click on "Scale" to resize the image using the dimensions you entered.

5. Click on "File," and then select "Save." Click on the "Save" button in the window that opens to save the image.

Resizing a Picture Online

1. Open the Shrink Pictures website by clicking on the link in the Resource section. Click on the "Browse" button. Navigate to the location of the image that you want to resize, and double-click on it.

2. Click on a radio button to indicate the new desired dimension for the longer side of the image, or click on one of the percentage radio buttons to resize the image to a percentage of its original size.

3. Select "Good," "Better" or "Best" to indicate the level of compression to apply to the resized image. In most cases, selecting "Best" results in an image that is still small enough for emailing.

4. Click on "Resize," and then click on "Download This Picture Now" to download the resized version of your image.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• GIMP: GNU Image Manipulation Program
• Shrink Pictures: Resize Images Online