How to Shrink an Album Cover to a CD Size

By Isaac Carlson

Shrinking album cover images to CD size is easy.
i cd boxes image by anna karwowska from Fotolia.com

Album cover photographs or art are typically taken or made in large high-resolution measurements. To shrink these types of images down to a typical CD size is a fairly simple process that can be completed quickly.

Step 1

Open your preferred image-editing software. Use the file menu to locate the file that will be used for the album cover and open the file.

Step 2

Navigate to the menu bar using your computer mouse and select "Image." Then select "Resize" or "Image Size," depending on the specific software you are using.

Step 3

Change the image height and width to the desired size. Typical CD covers are 4.274 inches square. If you want to make a CD cover with a bleed area of an eighth inch, enter 4.974 x 4.974 instead. The bleed is a small area extending beyond the art's live area. If you will be printing and cutting your album covers yourself, including bleed area is recommended to leave some room for cutting error. If the cover art will be printed professionally, check with the printer.

Step 4

Select "OK" once you have entered your CD size.

Step 5

Save your picture by selecting "Save As" from the image-editing software's file menu.

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