At 20x20 pixels there are exactly 400 pixels to work with. That sounds like almost nothing and in terms of detail it is. But certain interface contexts specifically call for this size and getting it wrong means an icon that looks stretched, blurry or simply wrong inside a UI element that was built around exact dimensions. Navigation bar icons in some mobile frameworks, status indicators in dashboard interfaces and small decorative elements in web apps all occasionally land at this size. Simple, bold shapes with no fine detail are the only things that translate well here.
How to Resize an Image to 20x20
Enter 20 in both the width and height fields and turn the Maintain Aspect Ratio checkbox off. With a non-square original and the checkbox left on, one side reaches 20 and the other scales with the original shape, so the output will not be square. Turning it off forces both dimensions to exactly 20.
At this scale what matters most.
- Use the simplest version of the graphic available, fine lines and small text disappear entirely
- Start from a large clean source and scale down, never scale up
- PNG is the only format worth using here, JPEG at 20x20 looks noticeably worse
- For batches, upload everything together and download as a ZIP.
Common Uses for 20x20 Images
Navigation icons in mobile app frameworks sometimes use 20x20 as a base size before scaling for different screen densities. Status indicator icons in web dashboards and admin panels also land at this size. Certain email template designs use small decorative icons at this dimension to keep layouts compact without adding visual weight.
Older CMS platforms and forum software that have not been updated to support larger avatar sizes sometimes cap profile photos at dimensions around this range in specific display contexts like inline comment threads.