{"id":2108,"date":"2026-11-04T15:13:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T20:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/?p=2108"},"modified":"2026-08-31T23:09:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:09:37","slug":"photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf","title":{"rendered":"Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You merged twelve holiday photos into a PDF and every landscape shot came out as a narrow strip stranded in the middle of a mostly-empty page. Or you changed one setting, and now the tops of everyone\u2019s heads are missing. Both are the same problem wearing different clothes: <strong>your photo and your page are different shapes<\/strong>, and the converter has to resolve that mismatch somehow. It can leave blank space, or it can crop. Three controls decide which \u2014 and one of them makes the mismatch disappear entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> A4 portrait is a <strong>1 : 1.414<\/strong> rectangle; a typical phone photo is <strong>4:3<\/strong>. Those do not fit, so <strong>Image placement<\/strong> decides what gives. <strong>Contained<\/strong> (the default) shrinks the photo until it fits and leaves the rest blank \u2014 on an A4 portrait page with the default Narrow margin, a landscape 4:3 photo leaves <strong>49% of the printable area empty<\/strong>. <strong>Cover<\/strong> fills the page instead and crops away exactly the same 49%, off the sides. The real fixes, in order: set <strong>Page layout<\/strong> to match the photo\u2019s orientation, set <strong>Paper size<\/strong> to <strong>Original<\/strong>, and set <strong>Margin<\/strong> to <strong>No margin (0&quot;)<\/strong>. Do all three on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/merge-image-to-pdf\">image to PDF merger<\/a> and you get no bars and no crop.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Jump to a section<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"#shapes\">The page and the photo are different shapes<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#placement\">Contained and Cover spend the same percentage<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#margin\">What Margin and Image alignment actually do<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#fix\">The settings that make the mismatch disappear<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#tool\">Merge photos into a PDF on xconvert<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#faq\">FAQ<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"shapes\">The page and the photo are different shapes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paper sizes and camera sensors were designed by different people for different reasons, and their proportions have never matched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The W3C\u2019s paged-media specification gives the standard page dimensions precisely: <strong>A4 is 210 mm wide and 297 mm high<\/strong>, <strong>US Letter is 8.5 \u00d7 11 inches<\/strong>. As width \u00f7 height that is <strong>0.707<\/strong> for A4 (the famous 1:\u221a2 ratio that lets you halve the sheet and keep the proportions) and <strong>0.773<\/strong> for Letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cameras use different ratios entirely:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>4:3<\/strong> \u2014 the shape most phone cameras produce by default. As a landscape frame that is 1.333 wide-to-tall; held upright it is 0.75.<\/li><li><strong>3:2<\/strong> \u2014 the classic 35 mm shape, still standard on DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. 1.5 landscape, 0.667 portrait.<\/li><li><strong>16:9<\/strong> \u2014 video frames, wide screenshots, many drone stills. 1.778 landscape, 0.563 portrait.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now add the two defaults that trip people up. <strong>Page layout<\/strong> defaults to <strong>Portrait<\/strong>, and <strong>Margin<\/strong> defaults to <strong>Narrow (0.5&quot;)<\/strong>. Those margins take an inch off each dimension, so an A4 portrait page has a printable box of <strong>184.6 \u00d7 271.6 mm<\/strong> \u2014 a shape of 0.68, taller and narrower than the paper itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drop a 1.333-wide landscape photo into a 0.68-shaped box and something has to give. That is the entire phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"placement\">Contained and Cover spend the same percentage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Image placement<\/strong> has exactly two settings, and they are two answers to the same question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Contained<\/strong> (the default) scales the photo down until the whole of it fits inside the printable box. Nothing is lost; whatever the box has left over stays blank.<\/li><li><strong>Cover<\/strong> scales the photo up until it fills the box completely. No blank space; whatever hangs over the edges is cut off.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is the part nobody points out: <strong>the percentage is identical either way.<\/strong> Contained turns it into white space, Cover turns it into a crop. All the figures below are arithmetic \u2014 printable box dimensions divided by photo aspect ratio, using A4 with the default Narrow (0.5&quot;) margin \u2014 not estimates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Photo shape<\/th><th>On A4 portrait, <strong>Contained<\/strong> leaves blank<\/th><th>On A4 portrait, <strong>Cover<\/strong> crops away<\/th><th>On A4 <strong>landscape<\/strong>, Contained leaves blank<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>4:3 landscape (most phone photos)<\/td><td><strong>49%<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>49%<\/strong> of the width<\/td><td>9%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>3:2 landscape (DSLR \/ mirrorless)<\/td><td><strong>55%<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>55%<\/strong> of the width<\/td><td>2%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>16:9 landscape (video frame, wide screenshot)<\/td><td><strong>62%<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>62%<\/strong> of the width<\/td><td>17%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>3:4 portrait (phone held upright)<\/td><td>9%<\/td><td>9% of the width<\/td><td>49%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>9:16 portrait (phone video still)<\/td><td>17%<\/td><td>17% of the height<\/td><td>62%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read the first and last columns together and the whole complaint resolves itself. On a portrait page, portrait photos waste 9\u201317% and look fine; landscape photos waste 49\u201362% and look broken. <strong>It was never about the photo \u2014 it was about the page\u2019s orientation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"696\" src=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pdf-blank-space-by-shape.png\" alt=\"Bar chart of how much of an A4 portrait page each photo shape leaves blank at the default Narrow margin: 16:9 landscape 62%, 3:2 landscape 55%, 4:3 landscape 49%, 9:16 portrait 17%, 3:4 portrait 9%\" class=\"wp-image-2106\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pdf-blank-space-by-shape.png 1600w, https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pdf-blank-space-by-shape-300x131.png 300w, https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pdf-blank-space-by-shape-1024x445.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pdf-blank-space-by-shape-768x334.png 768w, https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pdf-blank-space-by-shape-1536x668.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"margin\">What Margin and Image alignment actually do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two controls get blamed for this and neither is the culprit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Margin<\/strong> does not cause the mismatch, but it makes it slightly worse or better, because it changes the shape of the printable box as well as its size. The presets are <strong>No margin (0&quot;)<\/strong>, <strong>Narrow (0.5&quot;)<\/strong> \u2014 the default \u2014 <strong>Moderate (0.75&#215;1&quot;)<\/strong>, <strong>Normal (1&quot;)<\/strong> and <strong>Large (2&#215;1&quot;)<\/strong>. Going from Narrow to Large shrinks an A4 portrait box from 184.6 \u00d7 271.6 mm to 108.4 \u00d7 246.2 mm, which is a much narrower shape and therefore a much worse fit for a landscape photo. If a photo already looks small on the page, a bigger margin is the wrong direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is one pleasant arithmetic coincidence hiding in the Narrow preset: <strong>US Letter portrait minus 0.5&quot; all round is exactly 7.5 \u00d7 10 inches \u2014 a perfect 3:4 rectangle.<\/strong> An upright 4:3 phone photo fits that box with zero blank space and zero crop; a landscape 4:3 photo does the same on Letter landscape. If your photos are straight off a phone, that combination is the tidiest one available without leaving standard paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Image alignment<\/strong> \u2014 <strong>Top<\/strong>, <strong>Center<\/strong> (the default) or <strong>Bottom<\/strong> \u2014 decides <em>where<\/em> the photo sits, not how big it is. In Contained mode it moves the leftover blank space rather than removing it: choose Top and the blank ends up below the photo instead of split above and below. It is genuinely useful when you plan to write or stamp something in the empty area, and useless as a fix for the empty area existing. In Cover mode it is worth trying for a different reason: alignment decides which part of the frame the page keeps, so if the crop is cutting off heads, Top is the setting to try first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"fix\">The settings that make the mismatch disappear<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In descending order of how completely each one solves the problem:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Set Paper size to Original.<\/strong> The dropdown\u2019s first entry makes each page take the photo\u2019s own proportions. There is then no mismatch to resolve \u2014 no bars, no crop, whatever shape you shot. Pair it with <strong>No margin (0&quot;)<\/strong> so nothing is inset. This is the right answer for a photo album, a portfolio, or anything that is going to be viewed on a screen rather than printed.<\/li><li><strong>Set Page layout to match your photos.<\/strong> If they are landscape, choose <strong>Landscape<\/strong>. A 4:3 photo goes from 49% blank to 9% blank; a 3:2 photo to 2%, which is essentially a perfect fit. Costs nothing and needs no other change.<\/li><li><strong>Reduce the Margin.<\/strong> Narrow (0.5&quot;) is already the smallest non-zero preset; <strong>No margin (0&quot;)<\/strong> gains you the last of the sheet. Only relevant if you are committed to a fixed paper size.<\/li><li><strong>Switch Image placement to Cover \u2014 carefully.<\/strong> This is the right choice only when filling the page matters more than seeing the whole photo, and when the subject is nowhere near the edges. On a landscape photo dropped onto a portrait page it removes half the width, which is almost never what you want.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A mixed batch \u2014 some landscape, some portrait \u2014 cannot be solved by a single orientation, because whichever you pick is wrong for half the set. Either use <strong>Paper size \u2192 Original<\/strong>, which adapts per image, or split the batch and run it twice. For a mixed set that has to end up as one document, the ordering trick in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/merge-images-into-one-pdf-in-order\/\">merge images into one PDF in the right order<\/a> is worth reading first. And if the aim is to fit several photos per sheet rather than one, that is a different layout question entirely \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/multiple-photos-on-one-pdf-page\/\">put multiple photos on one PDF page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tool\">Merge photos into a PDF on xconvert<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Open the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/merge-image-to-pdf\">image to PDF merger<\/a> and click <strong>Upload<\/strong> to add your photos. Leave <strong>Combine?<\/strong> on <strong>Single PDF<\/strong> for one document, or switch to <strong>Individual PDFs<\/strong> for one file per image.<\/li><li>Open <strong>Advanced Options<\/strong>.<\/li><li>Under <strong>Paper size<\/strong>, choose <strong>Original<\/strong> if you want each page to take the photo\u2019s own shape. Otherwise pick your paper \u2014 <strong>A4<\/strong> is the default \u2014 and set <strong>Page layout<\/strong> to <strong>Landscape<\/strong> or <strong>Portrait<\/strong> to match your photos.<\/li><li>Under <strong>Image placement<\/strong>, leave <strong>Contained<\/strong> to keep the whole photo, or choose <strong>Cover<\/strong> to fill the page and accept the crop.<\/li><li>Under <strong>Margin<\/strong>, choose <strong>No margin (0&quot;)<\/strong> to use the full sheet, or leave <strong>Narrow (0.5&quot;)<\/strong>. Under <strong>Image alignment<\/strong>, <strong>Center<\/strong> is the default; <strong>Top<\/strong> or <strong>Bottom<\/strong> pushes the leftover space to one side.<\/li><li>Click <strong>Merge<\/strong> and download the PDF.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your files upload over an encrypted connection, are processed on our servers, and are deleted automatically a few hours later. No sign-up, no watermark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"faq\">FAQ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is my photo cropped when I turn it into a PDF?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because <strong>Image placement<\/strong> is set to <strong>Cover<\/strong>, which scales the photo until it fills the page and cuts off whatever overhangs. The amount removed is exactly the shape mismatch between photo and page: a landscape 4:3 photo on an A4 portrait page loses 49% of its width. Switch <strong>Image placement<\/strong> to <strong>Contained<\/strong> to keep the whole frame, and fix the underlying mismatch by setting <strong>Page layout<\/strong> to Landscape or <strong>Paper size<\/strong> to <strong>Original<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is there so much white space around my photo in the PDF?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because <strong>Contained<\/strong> \u2014 the default \u2014 shrinks the photo until all of it fits, and blank space is what is left over. On an A4 portrait page with the default Narrow (0.5&quot;) margin, a landscape 4:3 photo can only fill 51% of the printable height. The fix is not a smaller margin; it is matching the page to the photo. Set <strong>Page layout<\/strong> to <strong>Landscape<\/strong>, or <strong>Paper size<\/strong> to <strong>Original<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the difference between Cover and Contained?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Contained<\/strong> fits the entire photo inside the page and leaves the remainder blank. <strong>Cover<\/strong> fills the entire page and crops the remainder off the photo. They resolve the same mismatch and they spend the same percentage doing it \u2014 the only question is whether you would rather lose page space or lose picture. Contained is the safe default; Cover suits full-bleed layouts where the subject sits well inside the frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How do I make the PDF page exactly the size of my photo?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Set <strong>Paper size<\/strong> to <strong>Original<\/strong> \u2014 the first entry in that dropdown \u2014 and <strong>Margin<\/strong> to <strong>No margin (0&quot;)<\/strong>. Each page then takes the proportions of the image it holds, which removes the mismatch instead of resolving it. This works per-image, so it is also the only setting that handles a mixed batch of landscape and portrait photos correctly in one pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Does changing Image alignment stop the cropping?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No. <strong>Image alignment<\/strong> (Top \/ Center \/ Bottom) controls where the photo sits, not how much of it you see. In Contained mode it moves the blank space to one end of the page; in Cover mode it changes which slice of the photo survives, which is useful if the crop is taking heads off \u2014 try <strong>Top<\/strong> \u2014 but it never reduces how much gets cropped. Only Image placement, Page layout and Paper size change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">My portrait photos look fine but my landscape ones don\u2019t. Why?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because the page is portrait too. A4 portrait is a 0.707 rectangle and the printable area inside the default margins is 0.68 \u2014 close enough to an upright 3:4 phone photo that only about 9% of the page is left blank. A landscape photo is the opposite shape, so the same page leaves 49\u201362% empty depending on the camera. Set <strong>Page layout<\/strong> to <strong>Landscape<\/strong> for those, or <strong>Paper size<\/strong> to <strong>Original<\/strong> and stop thinking about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Last verified 2026-08-31.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/css-page-3\/\">W3C \u2014 CSS Paged Media Module Level 3, page-size keywords<\/a> \u2014 \u201cA4: Equivalent to the size of ISO A4 media: 210 mm wide and 297 mm high\u201d; \u201cletter: Equivalent to the size of North American letter media: 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches high.\u201d The page proportions used throughout.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/merge-image-to-pdf\">xconvert image to PDF merger<\/a> \u2014 the live <strong>Image placement<\/strong> (Cover \/ Contained, Contained selected), <strong>Margin<\/strong> (No margin 0&quot; \/ Narrow 0.5&quot; \/ Moderate 0.75&#215;1&quot; \/ Normal 1&quot; \/ Large 2&#215;1&quot;, Narrow selected), <strong>Image alignment<\/strong> (Top \/ Center \/ Bottom, Center selected), <strong>Paper size<\/strong>, <strong>Page layout<\/strong> and <strong>Combine?<\/strong> controls and their defaults, read from the page on 2026-08-31.<\/li><li>Blank-space and crop percentages in the table are arithmetic, not measurements: printable box = paper dimension minus twice the margin; the fitted image dimension = box dimension \u00f7 photo aspect ratio. Recompute them yourself from the two sources above.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your photo and the page are different shapes, so a PDF either crops or leaves white bars. What Image placement, Margin and Page layout actually change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-guides","category-tools"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your photo and the page are different shapes, so a PDF either crops or leaves white bars. What Image placement, Margin and Page layout actually change.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your photo and the page are different shapes, so a PDF either crops or leaves white bars. What Image placement, Margin and Page layout actually change.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"XConvert Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/xconvertcom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-11-04T20:13:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/featured-57.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"840\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephanie Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@xconvert_com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@xconvert_com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephanie Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stephanie Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ae9300506c0e9e85f1a6ece4d762980d\"},\"headline\":\"Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-04T20:13:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf\"},\"wordCount\":2024,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/featured-57.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"How To Guides\",\"Tools\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf\",\"name\":\"Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/featured-57.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-04T20:13:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ae9300506c0e9e85f1a6ece4d762980d\"},\"description\":\"Your photo and the page are different shapes, so a PDF either crops or leaves white bars. What Image placement, Margin and Page layout actually change.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/featured-57.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/featured-57.png\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":840,\"caption\":\"The xconvert image to PDF merger at \\\/merge-image-to-pdf with the Upload button highlighted \u2014 upload photos and set the page placement before merging\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"XConvert Blog\",\"description\":\"Blog for XConvert file converter\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ae9300506c0e9e85f1a6ece4d762980d\",\"name\":\"Stephanie Taylor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/af9a54599087d3f3dd2d0ea950291c9e18fcc503af09b136b37fa52c418fe467?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/af9a54599087d3f3dd2d0ea950291c9e18fcc503af09b136b37fa52c418fe467?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/af9a54599087d3f3dd2d0ea950291c9e18fcc503af09b136b37fa52c418fe467?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Stephanie Taylor\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/stephanie\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix","description":"Your photo and the page are different shapes, so a PDF either crops or leaves white bars. What Image placement, Margin and Page layout actually change.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix","og_description":"Your photo and the page are different shapes, so a PDF either crops or leaves white bars. What Image placement, Margin and Page layout actually change.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf","og_site_name":"XConvert Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/xconvertcom","article_published_time":"2026-11-04T20:13:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":840,"url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/featured-57.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Stephanie Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@xconvert_com","twitter_site":"@xconvert_com","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stephanie Taylor","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf"},"author":{"name":"Stephanie Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ae9300506c0e9e85f1a6ece4d762980d"},"headline":"Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix","datePublished":"2026-11-04T20:13:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf"},"wordCount":2024,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/featured-57.png","articleSection":["How To Guides","Tools"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf","url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf","name":"Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/featured-57.png","datePublished":"2026-11-04T20:13:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ae9300506c0e9e85f1a6ece4d762980d"},"description":"Your photo and the page are different shapes, so a PDF either crops or leaves white bars. What Image placement, Margin and Page layout actually change.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/featured-57.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/featured-57.png","width":1600,"height":840,"caption":"The xconvert image to PDF merger at \/merge-image-to-pdf with the Upload button highlighted \u2014 upload photos and set the page placement before merging"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/photos-cropped-or-white-bars-in-pdf#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Photo Cropped or White Bars in Your PDF? Here Is the Fix"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/","name":"XConvert Blog","description":"Blog for XConvert file converter","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ae9300506c0e9e85f1a6ece4d762980d","name":"Stephanie Taylor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af9a54599087d3f3dd2d0ea950291c9e18fcc503af09b136b37fa52c418fe467?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af9a54599087d3f3dd2d0ea950291c9e18fcc503af09b136b37fa52c418fe467?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af9a54599087d3f3dd2d0ea950291c9e18fcc503af09b136b37fa52c418fe467?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Stephanie Taylor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/author\/stephanie"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2109,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2108\/revisions\/2109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}