Image Aspect Ratio Fixer (Letterboxer)
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Upload an image to pad it to a specific ratio
The Social Media Layout Guide: Aspect Ratio Fixer
The Adiminium Aspect Ratio Fixer (Letterboxer) solves the "Crop or Zoom?" dilemma. When you try to post a wide landscape photo to Instagram (which prefers squares or verticals), the app usually forces you to crop off the sides. This tool lets you "zoom out" by adding intelligent padding to the image, preserving the entire original photo.
Understanding "Padding" Styles
When we add space to make a rectangle into a square, we have to fill that space with something.
- Blur (Aesthetic): We take your original image, zoom it up to fill the background, and apply a heavy blur. This creates a pleasing, color-coordinated background that doesn't distract from the main subject. Very popular on TikTok and Music Videos.
- White (Clean): Adds whitespace. Makes your photo look like a gallery print or a Polaroid. Good for minimalism.
- Black (Cinema): Adds "Letterbox" bars. Makes the image look like a movie screenshot. Good for dark mode feeds.
- Custom Color: Pick a brand color to match your company identity.
Guide to Social Ratios
- 1:1 (Square): The safest bet. Works on Instagram Grid, Facebook, LinkedIn.
- 9:16 (Vertical Full): The standard for Stories, Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. If you put a horizontal video here, it looks tiny. Use this tool to pad it with a blurred background!
- 4:5 (Vertical Standard): The maximum vertical height allowed on Instagram Posts. Takes up more screen real estate than a square.
- 16:9 (Widescreen): Standard for YouTube and TV.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Identify Goal: "I want to post this wide group photo to TikTok."
- Upload: Load the wide photo.
- Select Ratio: Choose "9:16".
- Result: Start with "Blur" background. The tool places your horizontal photo in the center of a vertical canvas.
- Download: You now have a 9:16 file ready to upload without cropping any faces.