What is a megapixel?
Definition
A megapixel is one million pixels. It is a way to describe the total number of pixels in a photo or on a camera sensor. Multiply width by height to find it, so a photo that is 4000 by 3000 pixels has 12 million pixels, or 12 megapixels.
Why it matters for sellers
More megapixels give you more room to crop. A seller can shoot a wide scene and crop tightly on a product, and the cropped photo still has enough pixels for a listing. This is useful when you cannot get close to the item.
Megapixels are only part of photo quality. Lighting, focus and a clean lens affect a product photo more than the pixel count. A phone camera with a modest megapixel count and good light often beats a larger sensor in poor light.
How to do it with Instasize
Instasize tells you the pixel size and megapixels of a photo, and lets you resize it for a listing.
- Open the Image Dimensions Checker and add your photo.
- Read the megapixels, pixel width and pixel height.
- Use the Image Resizer to scale the photo to the size you need.
- Download the result.
Related Instasize pages
Examples
Cropping a shelf photo
A seller photographs a full shelf, then crops to one jar. A high megapixel count means the crop still has enough pixels for a clean listing image.
Phone camera settings
A phone offers a high megapixel mode. The seller uses it for detail shots of fabric, where cropping in later is likely.
Oversized upload
A photo of many megapixels is uploaded as is. The store resizes it automatically, so the extra pixels are not used and the file is simply heavy.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate megapixels?
Multiply the pixel width by the pixel height and divide by one million. A 3000 by 2000 photo is 6 megapixels.
Do more megapixels mean better photos?
Not always. More megapixels mean more detail is possible, but focus, light and sensor quality decide what you actually capture.
How many megapixels does a listing photo need?
Check the marketplace's current image policy. Most listing sizes need far fewer megapixels than a modern phone produces.
Are megapixels the same as resolution?
Megapixels are one way to state resolution, as a single total. Resolution is also given as width by height in pixels.