Option 1: crop (lose the edges)
Cropping keeps a centred rectangle of the target ratio and discards the rest. It is the right choice when the subject sits centrally and the edges are expendable - most photos qualify. Do it with numbers: a 6000×4000 photo cropped to 16:9 keeps 6000×3375, trimming 313 px from top and bottom. Our crop-size calculator gives exact dimensions and per-edge trims for any combination, and every serious editor can type those numbers into a ratio-locked crop tool.
Option 2: pad (add to the frame)
Padding keeps the entire image and extends the canvas: black bars (letterboxing), a solid background colour, or a blurred, enlarged copy of the image behind it - the style popularised by vertical video editors. Padding is the right choice when nothing can be lost: screenshots, documents, whiteboards, logos. It costs visual impact - the picture occupies less of the frame - but it never destroys content.
Option 3: reframe (recompose)
Reframing treats the new ratio as a new edit: move the crop as the action moves, re-stack graphics vertically, promote close-ups. This is what professional social teams do when a TV spot becomes a Short, and it produces far better results than a mechanical centre-crop because vertical frames reward different composition. It costs the most time and is only worth it for content that will be seen at scale.
The one thing never to do: stretch
Scaling width and height by different factors to force-fit a frame distorts the image - circles become ovals, faces widen. There is no aesthetic context where this is correct. If you ever catch a stretched image in a layout, replace it with a crop or pad; both take the same minute and one of them is right.
- Crop when edges are expendable
- Pad when nothing can be lost
- Reframe when the content matters and will be seen at scale
- Never stretch