Irfanview is a freeware program which can be used to crop, rotate, brighten & sharpen digital images. It is a handy tool for eBay sellers who want to optimize their photos prior to uploading.

This guide offers an overview of how Irfanview works with some explanation to assist you in getting started using it.

Please confirm your computer meets the minimum system requirements:

• Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, NT
• Pentium II and above
• At least 250 MB free disk space, more than 500 MB recommended
• RAM: 128 MB, more than 256 MB recommended
• Internet Explorer v5.5 or later installed

Download Irfanview at irfanview.com 

GET STARTED

! - Download Irfanview from irfanview.com

2 - Install onto your computer

3 - Open the photo/image file you want to optimize. (You will have to browse to the appropriate location on your computer.)

Check information about your image by going to Image>Information:

Change the resolution to 72 x 72 if something other than that resolution:

To crop your image, draw with your mouse to select the portion of the image you want to use, such as this:

Then, go to Edit>Crop Selection:

To rotate your image, go to Image>Rotate Left (or Rotate Right):

To brighten, if necessary, go to Image>Enhance Colors. You may adjust the brightness or contrast (and a couple other features) as necessary:

To resize your image, go to Image>Resize/Resample. If you enter a percentage, this will show the new ziae near the top left of the window. Near the bottom/left, "preserve aspect ration" should be checked to preserve the ratio of the original image.

Save your image at File>Save as. It should be saved as a "jpg" for your eBay photos. The quality of 50-75 should be fine for your photos. (On the "widget" image used on this page, if a quality of 100 was used, the image was 105 kb - too large for most eBay photos. A quality of 75 made the image 20.1 kb, 50 became 15.2 kb.)