--- title: "Add a Border to an Image – Colour Frame or Padding, Free" description: "Put a border of any colour and width round a photo, or transparent padding round a logo, and download it in its own format. Several pictures at once. Free." url: "https://imagecompressor.si/add-border-to-image" lang: "en" --- # Add a border to an image Choose a width in pixels and a colour, and the picture gets an even frame on every side. ## How it works 1. **Add your images** Drag and drop, paste, or pick files. They upload over an encrypted connection. 2. **Pick a quality or a target size** Use the quality slider, or tell it exactly how many KB or MB you need. 3. **Download** Save each file, or grab them all at once as a ZIP. A border does more than decorate. It gives a photo room to breathe in a feed, stops a white product shot from melting into a white page, adds space round a logo so it does not touch the edge of an app icon, and turns a wide picture into one that fits a frame. This page adds the same number of pixels on every side, in the colour you pick. Set the width with the slider or type it, choose any colour, or switch on transparent to add see-through space instead. The picture itself is not scaled: the canvas grows round it, so a 1,000-pixel photo with a 40-pixel border becomes 1,080 pixels wide. Add several pictures to give them all the same border, then download them as a ZIP. The work is done on our server and the uploads are deleted straight after. ## Choosing a width and a colour For photos, a border of two to five percent of the shorter side looks like a print mount; thicker borders look like a poster. White and black are the safe choices. A colour taken from the photo itself, a sky or a wall, makes the frame look intended rather than added. ## Transparent padding for logos and icons Icons and app stores often want space round a logo. A transparent border adds that space without a visible frame, so the logo sits correctly on any background. Save the result as PNG or WebP to keep the transparency; JPG has none and paints it white. Most icon guidelines ask for about a tenth of the size as clear space round the logo. ## Border and text together A thick border at the bottom is a classic place for a caption. Add the border here, download, and put the text on with the add text page, or open the advanced settings, where the text control sits in the same panel. ## Borders that make a picture fit Social networks crop pictures that are too wide or too tall. Adding a border to the short sides until the picture is square, or four by five, lets the whole photo show without anything being cut. Work out the difference in pixels, add half of it on each side with the border, then crop away the unneeded border on the long sides. A border in a contrasting colour also makes a screenshot stand out in a document, where a white screenshot on a white page would otherwise have no edge. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does the border shrink my picture? No. The picture keeps its size and the border is added round it, so the file grows by twice the width on each axis. ### Can I add a border to one side only? The border is even on all sides. For one side, add it, then crop the sides you do not want. ### Which formats can I use? Any picture we read. The result is saved in the same format unless you choose another. ### Can I make rounded frames? Not with a border. The circle crop page cuts a photo into a circle with a see-through background. ### Is my picture kept? No. The frame is added on our server and the upload is gone from it once your picture comes back. ### How wide can the border be? Up to 2,000 pixels on each side, which is plenty even for large prints. ### Can I add borders to many pictures at once? Yes. Add them together; each gets the same border, and all of them download as one ZIP. ## Related tools - [Add text to an image](https://imagecompressor.si/add-text-to-image): Type the words, pick where they go and how large, and download the picture with the text on it. - [Crop an image into a circle](https://imagecompressor.si/circle-crop-image): Place a round frame over the face or the logo, and download it as a PNG with see-through corners. - [Resize an image](https://imagecompressor.si/resize-image): Set the size in pixels or percent and see the output dimensions before you download.