Paint & Photos: Free Image Tools

Windows ships with two free image tools that cover everything a beginner needs: Microsoft Paint for quick resizing and cropping, and the Photos app for more modern editing. Neither requires a subscription, a download, or an account.

Oversized images slow down web pages. A photo straight from your phone can be 5 MB or more — far too large for a website. Use Paint to shrink it down before uploading.

1. 1 Open Paint (search for it in the Start menu) and open your image with File → Open.
2. 2 In the Home ribbon, click Resize.
3. 3 Select Pixels, make sure Maintain aspect ratio is checked, and enter a width of 800 or less.
4. 4 Save as File → Save As → JPEG for photos, or PNG for graphics with sharp edges.

Windows Photos gives you a visual crop tool with drag handles, making it easy to frame exactly the part of an image you want.

1. 1 Double-click the image in File Explorer — it will open in Photos.
2. 2 Click the Edit button (pencil icon) at the top right.
3. 3 Select Crop & Rotate and drag the corner handles to select your area.
4. 4 Click Save a copy to keep the original untouched.