How to resize images using The Gimp

August 13th, 2007 by Ross McKillop |  Print This Post

This brief tutorial will guide you in using The Gimp to resize pictures/images. It’s also a part of the Linux for Parents - A Beginners Guide to Ubuntu series. Though the Gimp is not a Linux specific program, it is included as the default image editing software in Ubuntu.

1. Start by locating the image you want to resize. Right-click it and select Open With -> Open with “GIMP Image Editor”.


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2. In the main Gimp window (the one with your picture displayed) select Image from the top menu, and then Scale Image… from the drop-down list.


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3. The Scale Image window will appear. The image dimensions (Width and Height) will be displayed in pixels.



4. If you’d like to resize your picture based on percentage, click the “up/down” arrows in the pixels menu and select percent.



5. Now use the up or down arrow(s) in the Width: box to increase or decrease the size of your picture. In the example below, I’ve decreased the size of the picture by 50%. Click the Scale button when you’re ready.



6. The picture will now shrink (assuming you opted to decrease its size).


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7. If you want to permanently resize the picture, select File -> Save. If you want to save this resized picture but keep the original as it is, click File -> Save as…


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8. Give your ‘new’ picture a name and click the Save button.


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9. You’ll be asked what Quality you want the picture to be. The higher the quality, the larger the resulting file. I usually opt for somewhere around 85. Click OK when you’re done.



10. That’s it! You can now quit The Gimp by selecting File -> Quit.


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11. And now you’ll have a resized version of your original picture.


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12. For more info on using The Gimp, see the article titled My Gimp Resources.