Image resizing and image resampling both involve the resolution of the image; the width and the height of its outermost boundaries. Despite this similarity, though, these terms should never be used interchangeably.

What is the difference, exactly? Read on to split some hairs with us.

Image Size: Definition and Meaning

With any bitmap image, you've got a field of pixels bound by a height and a width, usually described first in terms of pixels before being described in picas or inches. This is the size of the image as it exists digitally. These pixels act as currency; the image contains a fixed number of them, all assigned a concrete and unwavering identity.

Whenever you need to change the size of an image, you have a couple of options. One would be to crop it. When you do this, you aren't changing any of the inherent qualities of the original image—you're just leaving some of it (some of the pixels) behind.

This is far from our only option when we need to change the size of an image for one reason or another. When we scale an image up or down, though, something slightly different occurs.

What Is Image Resizing?

An imaged upscaled and downscaled.

Resizing an image is the process of changing the scale of a discrete or continuous image by way of resolution. No part of the image is left behind, even if the ratio between height and width changes.

Continuous images include things like vectors and other computer-generated imagery. Discrete images include bitmap photos and graphics; anything where you have a given set of pixels to work with. If you're using a vector image, you're free to resize it up or down without changing it intrinsically. Bitmap images, however, are a different story.

A straightforward, 2X magnification of a bitmap image takes each pixel and simply increases its size proportionally along with the resolution, much like when simply adjusting an image's DPI and doing nothing else. Zooming out to 100 percent after doing so, however, reveals an image that is now much larger, but that has also taken a significant hit in quality.

What Is Image Resampling?

Resampling is the process that blurs the lines between these pixels as we spread them further apart or push them closer together, resulting in a final outcome that resembles the original much more closely. How does this work?

When resizing a vector, you won't need to resample the image at all; the mathematics behind the digital object fill in the blanks for us, adding and removing averaged values as we adjust. What happens, though, when you need to create new pixels or make canon ones disappear?

In order to accomplish either, the image needs to be resampled—algorithms make the call on where the line is drawn. Pixels that were previously neighbors reach out to one another and try to find common ground; if the image is being scaled down, these laws of averages are used to decide which values go and which ones stay.

A progression illustrating a 9 x 9 grid undergoing one round of resampling.
Image Credit: Thorben Bochenek/Wikimedia Commons

The image is analyzed and reconstructed by the computer, translated, and mapped to a larger or smaller set of dimensions.

After this has been taken care of, each component of the image must then be "sampled"—the differences between the original bitmap and what the computer has been tasked with creating are quantified and averages are used to make up the rest.

Scaling up blows the field out, leaving gaps in between all of the pixels, and scaling down crams them all in on top of one another. These ambiguous areas of ether and overlap both need to be populated; the processes are called upsampling and downsampling, respectively.

Different Types of Resampling

A couple of styles of image resampling.
Image Credit: Anthony Beck/Wikimedia Commons

There are a few broad categories of image resampling to consider:

  • Nearest Neighbor: This term describes the straightforward 2X magnification described previously. It's an archaic way of doing things and leaves you with either blocky upsampling or grainy downsampling.
  • Bilinear: This approach results in a linear interpretation of the original image. You'll usually end up with something kind of blurry when scaling an image up in this way.
  • Bicubic: This is the method that most of the brands that we trust utilize. Included here will usually be some sort of sharpening option and anti-aliasing.
  • Lanczos: Likely the most sophisticated of the bunch—this algorithm relies on either a 4 x 4, 6 x 6, or 8 x 8 matrix surrounding each new pixel in your output image.

If you work with media, a few of these probably look more than familiar to you. This list only mentions the most common types of resampling, however; there are many other more exotic formulas catering to the needs of other sectors. But you'll probably never need to worry about any of those.

When and Why Are Images Resampled?

An illustration: many pixels are averaged into one.
Image Credit: Vegard Nossum/Wikimedia Commons

Any time an image goes through an analog-to-digital or digital-to-analog conversion, such as when a photo is taken or an image is scanned and then printed, it will usually go through several rounds of resampling before its final presentation.

This even includes image compression—when you convert a raw photo to a JPEG, the wealth of visual information that existed originally is reduced and then used to recreate a new bitmap. The answers can't just come out of thin air, or else the resampled photo won't look similar enough to the original bitmap, and the project is ruined.

Thankfully, our digital companions are more than capable of making these tough decisions millions of times over on a microscopic level for us. These interpolations and anti-aliasing efforts spell the difference between an acceptably faithful transformation and something decidedly inferior to the original.

Related: How to Batch Convert and Resize Images on Your Mac

Practical Applications of Image Resampling

We framed these two concepts as twins, but resampling does sort of steal the show. There are many real-world applications of resampling, some of which go far beyond the world of media creation:

  • Resampling can be used to correct things such as barrel distortion in optical systems like telescopes and microscopes.
  • This is also the process by which photos are DeBayered at the sensor of any digital camera.
  • Photomosaics, such as panoramas and large-scale astrophotography, resample each piece of the puzzle to account for things like small differences in exposure and time elapsed between shots.
  • CGI images can be resampled in order to be texturized and shaded.
  • It can even be used to map and optimize a robotic tool's field of view and joint parameters, matching it to an operator's point of control elsewhere. Things like robot-assisted surgery, radiosurgery, and more, are all made possible through this life-saving triumph.

Imaging as an industry has come a long way since time immemorial. The tools that we have at our disposal now are only the latest in a long line of experimentation, failure, and victory. Our photos all look great as a direct result. Thanks, science.

Related: How to Upscale an Image Without Losing Quality

Resizing vs. Resampling: A Tale of Varying Proportions

Who makes the call between resizing and resampling an image of contention? The good news: the decision usually won't be yours to make, unless you plan on hunkering down and reconstructing the image yourself, pixel by pixel.

Honestly? That's something that we would pay to see. For the rest of us, however, we'll get by just fine with the tools that make automating work like this possible.