How to resize and enlarge images without losing quality

Resizing or enlarging images is something many website owners have to face, especially when they want to enlarge an image but end up with a blurry and pixelated result. 

Blurry images can reduce user engagement and affect your brand's credibility. However, with the right tools and techniques, you can enlarge images without losing quality.

In this article, we will introduce methods for enlarging images without causing them to break or blur, using reliable and tested tools.

Why does an image lose quality when it is enlarged?

Most image files used on the web are often bitmap files, such as JPEG and PNG, which consist of a large number of pixels. When you zoom in, you will see those pixels as small squares, each pixel having a specific position on the image, which is the origin of the term "bitmap."

Most image editing software uses the method of reducing or increasing the size of pixels to resize images. That's why reducing the size of an image doesn't significantly decrease its quality, because the pixels shrink and blend well together.

But when you enlarge the image, the pixels also get enlarged, making the image look blurry and pixelated.  The solution is to use a process called Fractal Interpolation or Fractals, which helps maintain the sharpness of the image even when it is enlarged.

How to enlarge an image without losing quality

You can use various existing image editing tools to enlarge images, and we will present three main methods as follows.

Method 1: Use GIMP (free)

GIMP is a free software that can be used as an alternative to Adobe Photoshop and Affinity Photo. Although the results may not be as good as some premium software, it can still help reduce quality loss.

• Download and install GIMP (supports both Windows and Mac)
• Open the image you want to enlarge, then go to Image > Scale Image.
• Specify the desired width and height.
• In the Quality section, choose Cubic as the resizing method.
• Click Scale to save the changes.

Method 2: Use IrfanView (free for Windows)

IrfanView is a small image editing program that allows you to resize images efficiently.

• Install IrfanView on Windows
• Open the image in IrfanView and go to Image > Resize/Resample
• Enter the desired image size in the Set new size box.
• Select Lanczos (slowest) in the Size method options.
• Check the box for Apply Sharpen After Resample
• Press OK and save the expanded image.

Method 3: Use ON1 Resize AI (Premium)

ON1 Resize AI (formerly known as Perfect Resize) is software that uses artificial intelligence to enlarge images while maintaining sharpness.

• Supports both Windows and Mac
• Use AI technology to upscale images to high quality.
• Can be used as a plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Capture One.
• Sold at a price of $69.99

Special tip: How to take a screenshot for your blog

Instead of zooming in, you can take high-quality screenshots from the start by using tools like Droplr or the app pre-installed on your device.

We hope this article helps you resize and enlarge images without losing quality. If you want to learn more, check out our guide on basic image editing in WordPress and the best plugins for managing images on WordPress.