Cropping is a truly important operation in photo editing. Why is it so important? Well, because it serves a lot of purposes and can be used for a wide range of scenarios.
The crop tool allows users to adjust the framing and composition of an image. By cutting away unnecessary or unwanted parts, it helps to refocus attention on the most important elements, improving the visual balance and impact. Cropping can eliminate distractions, zoom in on the subject and shift the composition to align with the rule of thirds or other design principles. It helps images fit specific sizes for publication on social media or presentation without distorting the subject. Also it makes it possible to change the orientation of a photo from landscape to portrait format, making it versatile for different uses.
Since it’s commonly used, many photo editing tools offer this feature. In this article we’ve put together a list of 10 Windows software that allow you to crop your photos with ease and without breaking the bank.
Photos
Before moving on to third-party apps, let’s first take a look at the native Photos app.
Microsoft Photos gives you the possibility to view, organize, share and edit your images. Sure, you may say it’s not the most feature-rich editor, but this doesn’t mean it’s not capable of performing useful tasks. These range from improving the light and colors of a picture to erasing objects, resizing and, of course, cropping.
In order to cut away undesired elements from your photo, just open your image in the app and click on the Edit icon (the leftmost icon) in the top menu. Now the editor will take you by default to the Crop tab, where you’ll be able to crop, rotate and flip an image.
If you want to freely trim your pic, simply click on the Free button and drag the handles located in the corners of the photo until you leave out the unwanted element. If you want to crop the picture using a precise aspect ratio, click on one of the numerous options available, ranging from square for a post on Instagram to 16:9 and 2:1. If you don’t want to overwrite your original picture, remember to choose “Save a Copy” in the saving options.
On the downside, Photos doesn’t come with a batch processing feature. This means that it’s not the ideal solution if you’re dealing with multiple images that require the same type of cropping.
Price
Microsoft Photos is free to use.
BatchPhoto
BatchPhoto should be your go-to Windows tool for cropping images. This is because it provides multiple cropping opportunities, it can effectively process hundreds of files simultaneously and is really easy to use. With this software you can batch crop photos in a simple way, following a three-step process: add your pictures in Step 1, crop them as you need with the built-in filters in Step 2 and choose the destination of your files and the image format in Step 3. That’s all there is to it.
BatchPhoto places at your disposal two alternatives to crop your images: Auto Crop and Crop. The Auto Crop feature is designed to automatically cut photos to a predefined aspect ratio, such as for instance 1:1, 4:3 or perhaps 16:9. If the predefined options don’t suit your needs, you can always define your own aspect ratio. On the other hand, the Crop feature gives you the possibility to manually cut away unwanted parts by either entering the preferred coordinates in pixels or percentage or by simply dragging the corner handles of the picture.
A big plus of this tool is the fact that it is equipped with numerous other features to optimize and enhance your images. Depending on your needs, you can convert, resize, rotate or flip photos, add a customizable date stamp or watermark, adjust the brightness, contrast and saturation of your pics, as well as apply artistic effects and turn your images into black & white or oil paintings.
To boost your productivity, you have the possibility of saving your commonly-used operations as Profiles and quickly loading them in other sessions. This way you’ll never have to repeat the same editing steps again.
Price
BatchPhoto offers a fully-featured trial version, with a watermark stamped on the processed images. There are three available editions to choose from:
- Home: $29.95
- Pro: $49.95
- Enterprise: $129.95
All BatchPhoto editions come with a lifetime license.
PhotoMarks
PhotoMarks is a tool that allows you to crop, watermark and optimize your images for web use or social media platforms. The program comes with a batch processing feature, which means that you can crop multiple photos at once, and an intuitive interface, making it simple to use. All you have to do is load your images, apply the Crop filter and select your configuration before processing.
Cutting away unnecessary elements is an easy operation. Simply select the Crop tool from the built-in filters and then cut a rectangular sub-region from you pictures. You can take advantage of the drag & drop interface and manually remove certain parts or select the exact cropping region by entering the left, top, width and height coordinates. You can express the new dimensions in either pixels or percentage.
PhotoMarks offers other editing features, which can be useful in various scenarios. The tool allows you to convert images to various formats, to add a text/logo watermark to protect your original photos, to resize and manually or automatically rotate your pictures, as well as decorate them with frames and borders.
To help you improve your workflow, the software places at your disposal two options. You can save your current settings for later use and also create your own scripts, which can be executed through the Windows command line.
Price
PhotoMarks comes with a fully-featured trial version (watermark applied to processed photos), without any time limitations. You can purchase a lifetime license for $29.95.
Pixlr
Pixlr is a suite of tools designed to help users edit their photos, create designs, make collages and even generate and enhance images using AI. It can be used as a Windows desktop app, as an Android or iPhone app or as a browser-based editor.
Pixlr comes with multiple possibilities to trim your photos. Once you’ve selected the Crop tool from the icon-based menu, you’ll be able to trim the canvas without any constraints or based on a given ratio, straighten the picture if it’s crooked or adjust the width/height. The editor allows you to crop images using a multitude of preset aspect ratios, ranging from 1:1 to 32:9 (super ultra wide), and of output sizes, ranging from Facebook profile to YouTube thumbnail and paper letter. You can additionally use the Cutout tool to trim the picture in a rectangle, circle or line shape. The possibilities are extensive.
Pixlr has batch editing capabilities and hence lets you crop up to 100 images at the same time using predefined aspect ratios. You can also resize your photos and apply a wide array of filters and effects in batch mode. The program allows you to save your operations as a macro and reuse the same settings in other editing sessions.
Price
Pixlr offers a free version for testing. You can upgrade to a paid plan if you want access to more features and remove ads:
- Plus: $1.99/month
- Premium: $7.99/month
- Team: $12.99/month
Ashampoo Photo Commander
Ashampoo Photo Commander is an interesting solution because it gives you the possibility to not only edit your pictures, but also to properly sort and organize them based on your individual criteria. If you’re used to simple interfaces, this one may initially seem a bit cluttered and difficult to navigate. But the structure is pretty clear: a folder area on the left, a configurable content area with previews of your pics next to it, a large preview section on the right and all your editing settings on the top.
Ashampoo Photo Commander gives you various options to cut your images once you select the Cut (Object) feature. You can create a rectangular selection and trim the image to that selection or to a specific aspect ratio, a free style selection, a free style color selection, as well as cut out an object or a person. The program offers a straight line tool to adjust any horizontal misalignment and an option to modify the perspective of the picture.
Besides cropping, the software lets you resize, rotate and mirror your photos, optimize colors and contrast, remove noise, as well as apply special effects like tilt-shift, blur or vintage. Another interesting aspect is the fact that you can create slideshows, greeting cards or collages from your collection of photos. If you are dealing with numerous photos that require the same changes, the program comes equipped with a batch processing feature to save time.
Price
Ashampoo Photo Commander comes with a 10-day trial period, during which you can test the software. You can purchase a lifetime license for US$27.50.
Zoner Photo Studio X
Zoner Photo Studio X is an advanced photo editing software that offers RAW processing, layer and mask support, retouching tools, presets and cataloging. The workspace revolves around four main modules: Manger (to organize your photos and perform batch edits), Develop (for basic editing without image quality loss), Editor (an advanced photo editor with lots of options) and Create (turn your images into photo books, calendars, postcards, collages and more). In general, the structure of the UI is pretty clear, making the program easy to navigate.
When it comes to cropping, you can perform this operation in bulk or individually. To batch crop images, you’ll need to select the Specific Crop feature. You can set the crop to a fixed size in pixels or a fixed aspect ratio, swap between the two sizes or ratios to make the switch from portrait to landscape and vice-versa and align the crop to a corner, a specific side or the middle. To crop a single picture in the Editor, use the Crop and Rotate tool. You can cut freely without restricting the cropping frame, based on the current aspect ratio, on a fixed aspect or on a fixed size.
Zoner Photo Studio X is designed to help you improve the overall aspect of your pictures both manually and automatically. You can take over and do all the fine-tunings as you please. But if you don’t want to manually adjust the contrast, exposure or saturation, the tool comes packed with a wide range of presets to auto-enhance your images. You also have the possibility to create your own presets and save and use them later for faster editing.
Price
Zoner Photo Studio X comes with a 7-day trial period. At the end of this period you can choose one of the two subscription plans:
- Individual license: $59.00/year
- Family license: $98.00/year
Click 2 Crop
Click 2 Crop is an easy-to-use solution to crop photos on Windows. At the same time it’s a fast editor, allowing you to process multiple files in a timely manner.
The interface is easy to navigate. On the left side panel you can see your original picture with the cropping frame, while on the right side of the screen you can visualize a live preview of the edited picture. The program lets you crop images using a free aspect ratio or a fixed one. You have the possibility of choosing between preset values or manually enter the preferred ratio values. You may also use one of the multiple guides available, from rule of thirds to golden triangles, to improve the image composition.
Cropping is indeed the core of Click 2 Crop, but this doesn’t mean you can’t perform other operations. This tool is equipped with features to rename, rotate, resize and resample photos, as well as add text captions, logo watermarks and borders to them. You can also fine tune your pictures. In that sense you’ll find various options to adjust the colors, to correct the white balance or sharpen your photographs.
Price
Click 2 Crop gives you a free, 15-day evaluation period to test the program. If you want to further use it, you must purchase the full version for $19.95.
123 Photos
123 Photos is a Windows program designed to view, edit and convert images. The software comes with a modern interface, which includes a Quick access section to rapidly apply the desired edit to your pics. There’s also a Batch section available, where you’ll be able to rename, resize and watermark photos in bulk. Unfortunately it’s not possible to cut multiple pictures at the same time.
Cropping a picture is far from difficult. Once you’ve selected this feature, the program will open up a new window with a generous preview area and all the options and settings on the right side of the screen. You can freely drag the edges of the cropping rectangle and reposition it, select a preset or custom aspect ratio, as well as adjust the width/height. The tool also gives you the possibility to straighten the picture, flip and rotate it.
123 Photos can be put to use to perform other interesting editing tasks. You can add a mosaic, create a photo collage, extract text from an image with the OCR feature, draw and add text and apply photo filters.
Price
Viewing images with the software is free. Editing, converting and saving the photos requires payment. You can choose between a monthly subscription and a lifetime license:
- Subscription: $0.99/month (first month is free)
- Lifetime license: $7.99
Croppola
If you don’t want to install a new program on your PC, this is an alternative worth checking out. Croppola is an online image cropper designed to cut photos in an intelligent way. The software uses advanced algorithms to analyze the composition of your photo and to suggest the best possible crop. The process is super simple: all you have to do is load your image, choose an aspect ratio and then let the platform automatically crop your picture.
Croppola offers multiple ratios to select from, including for adequate posts on Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter). The platform also allows you to choose the size of the crop and how would you like to cut the image: using the Croppola method, cropping the central part or cropping the face (if it’s there). If you don’t want to use the auto mode, you can trim your image manually. Drag the edges of the cropping frame as you please or enter the specific coordinates in pixels. You can change the aspect ratio and toggle the orientation from landscape to portrait and vice-versa.
On the downside, it doesn’t have batch processing capabilities, which means you can only crop photos one by one. Also you can’t perform any other edit.
Price
Croppola is free to use.
BatchCrop
As the name clearly indicates it, BatchCrop is particularly developed to crop images in bulk on PC. And because it was especially created for this purpose, it offers plenty of cropping options and settings. You can, of course, use drag & drop, use the arrows to move the cut region or manually enter the values for the crop width and height. The program is designed with an intelligent algorithm that automatically detects the crop region for a margin, in the case of scanned photos.
BatchCrop is not limited to just removing certain parts from a picture. The tool boasts other useful features for image editing. Depending on your needs, you can convert, resize, rotate, flip or watermark photos and convert them to popular formats. You can also remove dust spots (manually or automatically), perform color corrections or add captions and frames. Unfortunately, the program isn’t adapted to high-DPI displays, which makes its usage on such devices quite difficult.
Price
BatchCrop is offered with a fully-functional evaluation version. There are limits in terms of the usage time and the number of files that can be processed (only 8). You can buy a full license for $49.
It’s worth mentioning that the developer offers no refund once the purchase has been made.
