What is image letterboxing?

Letterboxing means fitting a wide image into a square (or other ratio) by adding padding above and below. The image keeps its aspect ratio; the empty areas are filled with a solid color or blur. This tool does that for a 1:1 square canvas.

What is pillarboxing?

Pillarboxing is the opposite of letterboxing: a tall image is fitted into a square by adding padding on the left and right. Same idea—no cropping, just padding (borders) to form a square.

How do I add padding to an image for free?

Upload your image here, leave the mode on Solid color (default white). Your image fits inside a square; the rest is padding. Change the background color if you want a different border. Export at any size from 64px to 4096px. No signup.

Square Image

Add Padding to Image – Fit Any Photo in a Square Canvas Free

Fit your full image inside a square with padding (letterbox or pillarbox). White or custom color borders. No cropping. Export 64–4096px. Free, no signup.

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How to Add Padding to an Image

Upload your photo. The tool fits it inside a square.
The empty area is padding—letterbox (top/bottom for wide images) or pillarbox (left/right for tall images).
Keep Solid color (default white) or switch to Blur for a different look.
Choose export size and download. No watermark.

Letterbox vs Pillarbox

Letterbox

Wide (landscape) image in a square: padding goes above and below. Like black bars on a widescreen video.

Pillarbox

Tall (portrait) image in a square: padding goes left and right. The full image stays visible in the center.

When to Use Image Padding

Fitting an image in a square canvas with padding is useful for video thumbnails, slides, print layout, product photos, and social posts where you want the whole image visible without cropping.

Guides & tutorials

You may also need

Square Image Maker— Blur, crop, resize—all in one
Blur Photo Frame— Square with blurred background
Instagram Square— 1080×1080 for feed
Twitter / X Square— 1080 posts, profile sizes
Facebook Square— Posts & profile photos