How to Resize Images on Windows: 6 Easy Methods (No Extra Software Needed)

You snapped a photo on your phone, moved it to your PC, and now a website is telling you the file is "too large to upload." Or maybe you're building a blog post and a 6000-pixel-wide image is making your page load like it's 2005. Whatever brought you here, the fix is the same: you need to resize the image. The good news? Windows already includes everything you need. Windows 10 and Windows 11 ship with at least three built-in ways to resize images, Microsoft offers a free power-user tool for batch resizing, and browser-based tools like the Lanthaac Image Resizer can handle the job without installing anything at all. In this guide, you'll learn every practical method for resizing images on Windows — from a quick one-off resize in the Photos app to resizing hundreds of photos at once. You'll also learn how to avoid the classic mistakes (blurry images, stretched faces, giant file sizes) that trip up most people the first time they try. Let's get into it.

What Is Image Resizing?

Image resizing means changing the dimensions of an image — its width and height, measured in pixels. A photo straight from a modern smartphone might be 4000 × 3000 pixels. Resizing it to 1200 × 900 pixels makes it smaller in every sense: fewer pixels, a smaller file, and faster loading anywhere you use it. It helps to separate three terms people often mix up:

• •Resizing changes the pixel dimensions of the whole image (e.g., 4000 × 3000 → 1200 × 900). The entire picture stays visible; it just gets smaller or larger.

• •Cropping cuts away part of the image. The dimensions change, but so does the content — you're removing pixels from the edges, not shrinking the picture.

• •Compressing reduces the file size (megabytes) without necessarily changing dimensions. It works by encoding the image data more efficiently, sometimes with a small quality trade-off. If your goal is purely a smaller file, an Image Compressor may be a better fit than a resizer — and often you'll use both together.

There are two directions you can resize:

• •Downscaling (making an image smaller) is safe and almost always looks good. You're throwing away extra detail the smaller version doesn't need.

• •Upscaling (making an image larger) is risky. Software has to invent pixels that don't exist, which usually produces a soft, blurry result. As a rule: downscale freely, upscale reluctantly.

One more concept worth knowing: aspect ratio. This is the proportional relationship between width and height. A 4000 × 3000 image has a 4:3 aspect ratio. If you resize the width to 1200 but set the height to something other than 900, you break that ratio — and the image looks stretched or squashed. Every method in this guide includes a way to lock the aspect ratio, and you should almost always leave that lock on.

Why Resizing Images Matters

Resizing feels like a small chore, but it has an outsized impact on how your files behave everywhere they go.

Faster websites and better SEO

Images are usually the heaviest assets on a web page. Google's own performance guidance (see web.dev) consistently identifies oversized images as one of the most common causes of slow Largest Contentful Paint — a Core Web Vitals metric that factors into how Google evaluates page experience. Serving a 4000-pixel image inside a 800-pixel content column wastes bandwidth on every single visit. Resizing images to the size they'll actually be displayed at is one of the highest-value, lowest-effort optimizations available to any website owner.

Uploads that actually work

Email providers, job application portals, government forms, forums, and CMS platforms all enforce upload limits — sometimes by file size, sometimes by pixel dimensions. A quick resize is often the difference between "upload failed" and "done."

Storage and bandwidth savings

Fewer pixels means smaller files. If you manage a media library, a product catalog, or just a very full Downloads folder, resizing images before storing or sharing them adds up to real savings in disk space and transfer time.

Consistent, professional presentation

Social platforms, marketplaces, and design systems expect specific dimensions. A profile picture, a YouTube thumbnail, an Etsy listing photo, and a blog featured image all have different ideal sizes. Resizing lets you deliver exactly what each platform wants instead of letting the platform crop or squash your image automatically — usually badly.

Faster editing and sending

Smaller images open faster, edit faster, attach to emails faster, and sync to cloud storage faster. If you've ever waited for a 12 MB photo to crawl through a slow connection, you already understand the value.

How Image Resizing Works (The Simple Version)

You don't need a computer science degree to resize images well, but a 60-second peek under the hood will help you make better choices. A digital image is a grid of pixels — tiny colored squares. When you resize an image, software rebuilds that grid at a new size using a process called resampling (or interpolation).

• •When downscaling, the software merges groups of original pixels into single new pixels, averaging their colors intelligently. Because it's summarizing real information, the result looks clean and sharp.

• •When upscaling, the software must create new pixels between the existing ones by guessing what should be there. Even good algorithms produce softness, because a guess is never as good as real detail.

Different tools use different resampling algorithms — nearest neighbor (fast, blocky), bilinear (smooth, slightly soft), bicubic (the common default, good balance), and Lanczos (sharper, favored for photo downscaling). You'll rarely need to choose manually; the built-in Windows tools and the Lanthaac Image Resizer pick sensible defaults for you. But if a resized image ever looks unexpectedly soft or jagged, the resampling method is usually the reason. Two other details worth understanding: File format affects the outcome. JPEG re-saves apply lossy compression each time, so repeatedly editing and re-saving a JPEG slowly degrades it. PNG is lossless (no quality loss on save) but produces larger files for photos. WebP offers strong compression for the web. A good habit: keep an untouched original, and export resized copies from it rather than resizing a resize. DPI is mostly irrelevant on screen. DPI (dots per inch) only matters for printing. A 1200 × 900 image at 72 DPI and at 300 DPI contains the exact same pixels and looks identical on a screen. If you're resizing for web, social, or email, focus on pixel dimensions and ignore DPI. If you're preparing something for print, then DPI and physical dimensions come into play — a common print target is 300 DPI at the final printed size.

Step-by-Step Guide: 6 Ways to Resize Images on Windows

Every method below works on Windows 10 and Windows 11 unless noted. Pick based on your situation: one image or hundreds, quick-and-dirty or precise, installed apps or browser only.

Method 1: Microsoft Photos App (Fastest Built-In Option)

The Photos app is the default image viewer on Windows 10 and 11, and it includes a clean, simple resize feature.

• Right-click your image in File Explorer and choose Open with → Photos. (If Photos is your default viewer, just double-click the file.)

• Click the three-dot menu (⋯) in the top toolbar.

• Select Resize image. On older Windows 10 builds this may simply say Resize.

• Choose your sizing option:

- On Windows 11, you can enter exact pixel dimensions or resize by percentage. Keep "Maintain aspect ratio" checked so the image doesn't distort. - On some Windows 10 versions, you'll see preset sizes (Small, Medium, Large) plus a "Define custom dimensions" option.

• Adjust the quality slider if one appears (higher = better quality, larger file).

• Click Save resized copy and choose where to save it.

Photos saves a copy by default, which is exactly what you want — your original stays untouched. Best for: Quickly resizing a single photo with no fuss.

Method 2: Microsoft Paint (Precise and Universal)

Paint has shipped with every version of Windows for decades, and its resize tool gives you precise control.

• Right-click the image and choose Open with → Paint.

• Click the Resize button on the toolbar (Windows 11) or Resize in the Image group (Windows 10). Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + W.

• In the dialog, choose Percentage or Pixels.

• Enter your target width or height. With "Maintain aspect ratio" checked, the other dimension fills in automatically.

• Click OK, then go to File → Save As and save under a new name.

That last step matters: Paint's regular Save overwrites the original file. Always use Save As with a new filename (e.g., photo-1200w.jpg) so you keep the full-resolution version. Tip: Paint's Save As menu also lets you switch formats — handy if you want to convert a large PNG screenshot to a smaller JPEG in the same step. Best for: Exact pixel dimensions on a single image, or resizing on a PC where nothing else is available.

Method 3: PowerToys Image Resizer (Best for Batch Resizing)

Microsoft PowerToys is a free, official utility suite for Windows, and its Image Resizer module is the single best way to resize many images at once directly from File Explorer. One-time setup:

• Install PowerToys from the Microsoft Store (search "PowerToys") or from Microsoft's official GitHub releases page.

• Open PowerToys Settings and make sure Image Resizer is enabled.

To resize:

• In File Explorer, select one or more images (Ctrl+click to pick several, or Ctrl+A for all).

• Right-click the selection and choose Resize with Image Resizer. On Windows 11, if you don't see it immediately, click Show more options first.

• Pick a preset size (Small, Medium, Large, Phone) or choose Custom and enter exact dimensions.

• Review the options:

- "Ignore the orientation of pictures" — smartly applies the smaller dimension to portrait vs. landscape images. - "Make pictures smaller but not larger" — prevents accidental upscaling. Leave this on. - Resize the original pictures (don't create copies) — leave this off unless you're certain.

• Click Resize. Copies appear in the same folder with the size appended to the filename.

You can also customize the presets in PowerToys Settings — for example, creating a "Blog" preset at 1200 px wide that's always one right-click away. Best for: Resizing dozens or hundreds of images in seconds. If you regularly prepare photos for the web, this is worth the two-minute install.

Method 4: Free Online Image Resizer (No Installation, Works Anywhere)

If you're on a locked-down work PC, a borrowed laptop, or you simply don't want to open an app, a browser-based tool is the fastest route. The free Lanthaac Image Resizer runs entirely in your browser:

• Open the Image Resizer on Lanthaac Tools.

• Drag and drop your image (or click to browse). Common formats like JPG, PNG, and WebP are supported.

• Enter your target width or height in pixels — or resize by percentage. Keep the aspect ratio lock enabled.

• Preview the result, then click Download.

Because it's browser-based, the same steps work on Windows, Mac, Linux, a Chromebook, or your phone. And if your real goal is shrinking the file size for an upload limit, pair it with the Image Compressor to squeeze the file down further without visibly hurting quality. Best for: Quick resizes on any device, no admin rights required, and situations where you also want compression in the same workflow.

Method 5: Microsoft Word or PowerPoint (When the Image Lives in a Document)

If your image is destined for a document anyway, you can resize it right where it lands:

• Insert the image (Insert → Pictures).

• Click the image and drag a corner handle to resize visually — corner handles preserve aspect ratio.

• For exact dimensions, use the Height and Width boxes on the Picture Format tab.

• To permanently shrink the stored image data (and your file size), use Picture Format → Compress Pictures, pick a resolution, and apply it.

Note that dragging handles only changes the display size — the full image data is still embedded until you use Compress Pictures. That's why a Word file with five photos can balloon to 40 MB. Best for: Images inside documents, reports, and slide decks.

Method 6: Windows Photo Legacy / Third-Party Viewers

If you use a third-party viewer like IrfanView, XnView, or FastStone (all free for personal use), each includes robust resize and batch-convert features under their respective Image or Tools menus. These apps are favorites among photographers for a reason: they're fast, scriptable, and handle obscure formats. The general pattern is the same everywhere — open image, find Resize, enter dimensions, keep aspect ratio locked, save as a copy. Best for: Power users who process images daily and want keyboard-driven speed.

Real Examples: Common Resizing Scenarios Solved

Abstract steps are fine, but here's what resizing looks like in real life.

Example 1: "This photo is too big to email"

Situation: Ade needs to email a scanned document photo that's 4032 × 3024 and 8.5 MB. The recipient's mail server rejects attachments over 5 MB. Solution: Open in Photos → Resize image → set width to 2000 px (plenty for a readable document) → Save resized copy. The file drops well under the limit. If it's still too large, a pass through the Image Compressor finishes the job.

Example 2: "My blog images load slowly"

Situation: A food blogger uploads camera photos directly. Each post carries five images at 6000 px wide; the page takes ages to load on mobile and rankings are slipping. Solution: The blog's content column is 800 px wide. She installs PowerToys, creates a custom preset at 1600 px wide (2× the display size, which keeps images crisp on high-density screens), selects all five photos, right-clicks, and resizes them in one action. Pages now load in a fraction of the time.

Example 3: "I need a 500 × 500 profile picture"

Situation: A developer needs an exact 500 × 500 avatar for a portfolio site, but his photo is 3000 × 4000 (portrait — the wrong shape entirely). Solution: This is a two-step job: crop first, then resize. He crops the photo square in the Photos app (Edit → Crop → 1:1 ratio), then resizes the square result to 500 × 500. Resizing alone can't fix a shape mismatch — that's what cropping is for.

Example 4: "I have 300 product photos to standardize"

Situation: An online store owner has 300 product photos in mixed sizes and needs everything at 1000 px on the longest side. Solution: PowerToys Image Resizer with a custom 1000 × 1000 "Fit" preset. Select all 300 files, right-click, resize. Done in under a minute — a task that would take hours one image at a time.

Practical Use Cases by Audience

• •Students: Shrinking photos of notes, assignments, and IDs to meet portal upload limits; resizing figures for reports and presentations.

• •Developers: Producing exact-dimension assets (favicons, avatars, OG images at 1200 × 630), generating multiple sizes for responsive srcset images.

• •Content creators: YouTube thumbnails (1280 × 720), Instagram posts (1080 × 1080 or 1080 × 1350), Pinterest pins (1000 × 1500), blog featured images.

• •Business owners: Product photos for marketplaces, email newsletter images, logos sized for invoices and documents.

• •Designers: Preparing client review copies at manageable sizes, exporting mockup previews, creating consistent asset libraries.

• •SEO professionals and digital marketers: Cutting page weight to improve Core Web Vitals, standardizing image dimensions across a content calendar, prepping ad creatives to each network's spec.

• •Everyday users: Email attachments, printable photos, forum avatars, government and job application uploads.

Benefits of Resizing Images Properly

• •Faster page loads — smaller images are the quickest performance win for most websites.

• •Successful uploads — meet size and dimension limits on the first try.

• •Lower storage costs — meaningful savings across large photo libraries and cloud backups.

• •Reduced bandwidth use — kinder to visitors on mobile data and slow connections.

• •Consistent branding — uniform image sizes make sites, stores, and feeds look professional.

• •Better email deliverability — huge attachments bounce or get clipped; right-sized ones arrive.

• •Sharper results than auto-cropping — you control how the image fits, not the platform's algorithm.

• •Faster editing workflows — smaller files open, process, and sync faster in every tool you use.

Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Best Practices for Resizing Images on Windows

• Keep your originals. Create a folder structure like originals/ and resized/. Storage is cheap; a lost original is gone forever.

• Resize from the original every time. Need three sizes? Export all three from the master, not from each other.

• Downscale, don't upscale. If you must enlarge, keep it modest — small increases are far less noticeable than doubling dimensions.

• Target roughly 2× the display size for web images. If your content area is 800 px wide, a 1600 px image stays crisp on high-density (Retina-class) screens without excessive weight.

• Use batch tools for repetitive work. Five or more images? PowerToys Image Resizer or a batch-capable online tool will save you real time.

• Name files descriptively. blue-ceramic-mug-1200w.jpg beats IMG_4823 (2) copy.jpg for both your sanity and your SEO.

• Pair resizing with compression. After resizing for the web, run images through the Image Compressor — the combination routinely cuts file sizes dramatically compared to either step alone.

• Check the result at 100% zoom. Thumbnails hide problems. View the resized image at full size to confirm sharpness before publishing.

• Standardize your sizes. Decide on a small set of standard dimensions for your site or brand (e.g., 1600 px hero, 1200 px inline, 600 px thumbnail) and stick to them.

• Ignore DPI for screens. Pixel dimensions are what matter online. Only worry about DPI when preparing files for print.

Comparison Table: Which Method Should You Use?

Quick recommendation: one image → Photos app or the online resizer; many images → PowerToys; image already in a document → resize it there.

Statistics and Industry Trends

A few widely accepted facts shape why image resizing matters more each year. Where a claim depends on a specific figure, verify the current number against the cited source before quoting it, since these datasets update regularly.

• •Images dominate page weight. The HTTP Archive's ongoing Web Almanac research has consistently found images to be among the largest contributors to total page weight on the median web page. Exact medians shift year to year — check the current Web Almanac for up-to-date figures.

• •Core Web Vitals make image sizing an SEO concern. Google's page experience guidance uses Largest Contentful Paint as a key metric, and the LCP element on many pages is an image. Google's web.dev documentation explicitly recommends properly sizing images as a primary optimization.

• •Mobile traffic makes oversized images costlier. With a majority of global web traffic coming from mobile devices (per long-running industry measurements such as StatCounter), every unnecessary megabyte hits users on slower connections and metered data plans hardest.

• •Modern formats are now mainstream. WebP enjoys broad support across current browsers, and AVIF support has grown rapidly — a trend that pairs naturally with resizing, since format choice and dimensions together determine final file size.

• •Camera resolutions keep climbing. Flagship phones now capture images at resolutions far beyond what any screen displays, which means the gap between "what your camera produces" and "what your website needs" keeps widening — and resizing keeps growing more valuable.

Expert Tips

• •Create a PowerToys preset for your most common size. If you resize blog images to 1200 px weekly, a saved preset turns the whole task into two clicks.

• •Use percentage resizing for quick halving. When exact dimensions don't matter, resizing to 50% in Paint or Photos is faster than doing pixel math.

• •Convert screenshots from PNG to JPEG when they're photographic. Screenshots of photos or video frames save dramatically smaller as JPEG. Keep PNG for screenshots containing crisp text and UI elements.

• •Resize before uploading to a CMS, even if it "handles it." WordPress and similar platforms generate resized variants, but they still store your massive original and sometimes serve it. Uploading a sensibly sized file keeps your media library lean.

• •Mind EXIF orientation. Phone photos carry rotation metadata. If a resized image comes out sideways, rotate and re-save it in Photos first, then resize.

• •For responsive websites, generate multiple sizes. Serving 480 px, 800 px, and 1600 px variants via srcset lets browsers pick the right one — a big win for mobile visitors. Batch tools make generating the set painless.

• •Sharpen slightly after heavy downscaling if your tool allows it. Large reductions can soften fine detail; a light sharpen restores snap. (Photos' auto-enhance can help here.)

• •Test transparency before converting formats. Resizing a transparent PNG is fine, but saving it as JPEG replaces transparency with a solid background — usually white, sometimes black. Keep PNG (or WebP) when transparency matters.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I resize an image on Windows without losing quality?

Downscale (reduce dimensions) rather than upscale, keep the aspect ratio locked, and save the result as a copy at high quality settings. Downscaling from a larger original almost always looks sharp. Quality loss mainly comes from upscaling, repeated JPEG re-saves, or aggressive compression.

Can I resize images on Windows without installing any software?

Yes — three ways. The built-in Photos app and Paint both resize images, and a browser-based tool like the Lanthaac Image Resizer works with no installation and no admin rights at all.

How do I resize multiple images at once on Windows?

Install Microsoft PowerToys (free, official) and enable Image Resizer. Then select all your images in File Explorer, right-click, choose "Resize with Image Resizer," pick a size, and click Resize. Hundreds of images take seconds.

What's the difference between resizing and compressing an image?

Resizing changes pixel dimensions (width × height). Compressing shrinks the file size in megabytes by encoding the data more efficiently, without necessarily changing dimensions. For web use, do both: resize to the display size, then compress the result.

Does resizing an image reduce its file size?

Usually, yes — fewer pixels means less data to store, so downscaling typically shrinks the file substantially. Upscaling does the opposite. For maximum savings, follow resizing with compression.

How do I resize an image to exact dimensions like 500 × 500?

If your image isn't already square, crop it to a 1:1 ratio first (Photos → Edit → Crop), then resize the cropped result to 500 × 500 in Paint, Photos, or the Lanthaac Image Resizer. Cropping handles the shape; resizing handles the scale.

Why does my resized image look blurry?

The most common causes: you upscaled a small image, you resized an already-resized copy instead of the original, or you saved a JPEG at a low quality setting. Start from the largest original you have and only make it smaller.

Why does my image look stretched after resizing?

The aspect ratio lock was off, so width and height changed by different proportions. Redo the resize with "Maintain aspect ratio" checked. If you need a different shape, crop first.

What image size is best for websites?

Match the image to its display size, with about 2× headroom for high-density screens. For a typical blog content area, 1200–1600 px wide covers most needs. Full-width hero images may warrant 1920–2400 px. There's rarely a reason to publish web images wider than 2500 px.

Does resizing change the DPI of my image?

Resizing changes pixel dimensions; DPI is separate metadata that only matters for printing. On screens, a 1200 px image looks identical at 72 or 300 DPI. For print work, aim for enough pixels to hit roughly 300 DPI at the final printed size.

Can I resize a screenshot on Windows?

Absolutely — screenshots are ordinary image files (usually PNG). Open one in Photos or Paint, or drop it into the online resizer, and resize as usual. If the screenshot contains small text, avoid shrinking it so much that the text becomes unreadable.

Will resizing remove metadata like location from my photos?

It depends on the tool. Some tools preserve EXIF metadata (camera info, GPS location); others strip it. If privacy matters — say, before posting a photo publicly — check the tool's behavior or remove metadata explicitly via the file's Properties → Details → "Remove Properties and Personal Information" in Windows.

How do I resize an image for Instagram, YouTube, or other platforms?

Look up the platform's current recommended dimensions (they change occasionally), then crop to the required aspect ratio and resize to the target size. Common current targets: Instagram square posts at 1080 × 1080, YouTube thumbnails at 1280 × 720, and X/Twitter headers at 1500 × 500 — but verify against each platform's official help pages.

Is it better to resize an image larger or find a bigger original?

Always find a bigger original if you can. Upscaling asks software to invent detail that doesn't exist. Even modern AI upscalers, while impressive, produce approximations — a genuine high-resolution source beats them every time.

Can I undo a resize?

If you saved a copy, yes — your original is untouched. If you overwrote the original, only partially: you can upscale the small version back, but the lost detail won't return. This is exactly why every method in this guide emphasizes saving copies.

Troubleshooting Guide

"Resize" doesn't appear in my Photos app. Update the Photos app via the Microsoft Store (Library → Get updates). On older builds, the option lives under the ⋯ menu as "Resize." If it's still missing, use Paint — it's on every Windows PC. "Resize with Image Resizer" is missing from my right-click menu. On Windows 11, click Show more options at the bottom of the context menu first. If it's still absent, open PowerToys Settings and confirm Image Resizer is toggled on, then restart File Explorer or the PC. My resized image came out sideways. The photo carried EXIF rotation data that the resizing tool ignored. Open the original in Photos, rotate it so it displays correctly, save, and resize again. The file is still too large after resizing. Dimensions and file size are related but not identical. Run the resized image through the Image Compressor, or re-save as JPEG at a slightly lower quality setting. Converting a photographic PNG to JPEG often helps enormously. Text in my resized image is unreadable. Text degrades fast when shrunk. Either keep the image larger, or recreate the graphic at the target size so the text renders natively instead of being scaled down. Paint saved over my original file. Check the Recycle Bin — you may have an earlier copy elsewhere (email attachments, cloud sync version history like OneDrive's "Version history" can rescue you). Going forward, always use Save As with a new name. My PNG's transparent background turned white/black. It was saved as JPEG, which doesn't support transparency. Redo the resize and keep the PNG format (or use WebP). Batch resize skipped some files. PowerToys Image Resizer handles common formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, WebP). Unusual formats — HEIC without the codec installed, RAW camera files — may be skipped. Install the HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store for HEIC support, or convert those files first.

Related Tools on Lanthaac Tools

Resizing is often one step in a bigger job. These free tools pair naturally with it:

• •Image Resizer — the tool this guide is built around: exact dimensions, aspect-ratio lock, instant download.

• •Image Compressor — shrink file sizes after resizing for the fastest possible pages and successful uploads.

• •PDF Merger — combining resized scans or images into a single PDF for applications and submissions.

• •QR Code Generator — create QR codes at the exact pixel size your print or web design needs.

• •Color Picker — grab exact colors from your resized images for matching backgrounds and brand palettes.

• •Word Counter — while you're polishing images for a post, check that your copy hits its target length too.

• •Base64 Encoder — developers embedding small resized images directly into CSS or HTML will find this handy.

Conclusion

Resizing images on Windows is one of those skills that pays for itself immediately and forever. The core ideas fit in a sentence: match your image dimensions to where the image will be used, keep the aspect ratio locked, always work from a saved original, and downscale rather than upscale. For a single image, the built-in Photos app or Paint gets it done in under a minute. For batches, PowerToys Image Resizer turns an afternoon of drudgery into one right-click. And when you're on a device that isn't yours — or you want resizing and compression in one smooth workflow — a browser-based tool handles it from anywhere. Whichever method you choose, you now know how to avoid the blurry, stretched, oversized results that plague most first attempts. Your uploads will succeed, your pages will load faster, and your images will look exactly the way you intended.

Resize Your First Image Right Now

Don't just bookmark this guide — put it to work. Grab any oversized photo on your PC and try the free Lanthaac Image Resizer: drag, drop, set your dimensions, download. It takes less than thirty seconds, works on any device, and costs nothing. Got an upload limit to beat? Run the result through the Image Compressor next and watch the file size drop even further. Try the free Image Resizer at Lanthaac Tools today — no sign-up, no installs, no watermarks.