How to resize an image using the PHP GD library?
To resize an image with PHP's GD library, load the source using the correct imagecreatefrom* function, create a true-color canvas with imagecreatetruecolor(), enable alpha handling for PNG/GIF, resample with imagecopyresampled() for quality, then save via imagejpeg() or imagepng() and free memory with imagedestroy().

To resize an image using PHP's GD library, you need to load the original image, create a new canvas with target dimensions, and copy-resample the original onto it. The key is choosing the right function based on your source format and whether you need aspect-ratio preservation.
Load the source image correctly
Use the appropriate imagecreatefrom* function matching your file type. GD doesn’t auto-detect format from content — it relies on the function you call.
-
imagecreatefromjpeg('photo.jpg')for JPEG -
imagecreatefrompng('icon.png')for PNG (preserves transparency) -
imagecreatefromwebp('graphic.webp')for WebP (PHP 7.1 ) - Always check if the return value is
false— indicates failure (e.g., missing file or unsupported format)
Create a new true-color canvas
Use imagecreatetruecolor($width, $height) to allocate a blank canvas at your desired output size. This supports full 24-bit color and alpha channels when needed.
- If resizing a PNG or GIF with transparency, enable alpha blending and save background:
imagealphablending($new, false);imagesavealpha($new, true); - For JPEGs, no alpha handling is needed — just use the canvas as-is
Resample and copy the image
Use imagecopyresampled() — it applies smoothing and produces higher quality than imagecopyresized().
- Syntax:
imagecopyresampled($dst, $src, $dst_x, $dst_y, $src_x, $src_y, $dst_w, $dst_h, $src_w, $src_h) - For full-image scaling: set all
_xand_yoffsets to0, and use full source and target dimensions - Example: resize to 300×200:
imagecopyresampled($resized, $original, 0, 0, 0, 0, 300, 200, $orig_w, $orig_h);
Save or output the result
Choose the right output function and set proper headers if outputting directly to browser.
- For JPEG:
imagejpeg($resized, 'small.jpg', 90)(third param = quality, 0–100) - For PNG:
imagepng($resized, 'icon-sm.png')(no compression level needed by default) - To output to browser: add
header('Content-Type: image/jpeg');beforeimagejpeg($resized); - Always free memory:
imagedestroy($original); imagedestroy($resized);
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