---
title: "How big should a screenshot be for Claude? Image tokens explained"
description: "Claude scales large images down before reading them. What a whole Retina screen, one window and a cropped panel cost in tokens, what the model actually sees, and why cropping wins."
url: https://www.bigshot.pics/blog/screenshot-size-for-claude
---
# How big should a screenshot be for Claude? Image tokens explained

*2026-10-07*


Every screenshot you give Claude, in Claude Code or through the API, costs
tokens and is scaled to fit the model's limits first. Knowing the rule
explains why a full-screen capture of a bug often works worse than a cropped
one.

## How Claude counts an image

Claude reads an image in 28 × 28-pixel patches. Each patch is one visual
token, so an image costs:

```text
tokens = ⌈width / 28⌉ × ⌈height / 28⌉
```

Each model also has a ceiling. Anything bigger is scaled down, keeping its
proportions, until it fits:

| Tier | Models | Longest edge | Most tokens per image |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-resolution | Claude 4.7 and later | 2576 px | 4784 |
| Standard | Earlier models | 1568 px | 1568 |

Source: Anthropic's
[vision documentation](https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/vision).

## What typical Mac screenshots cost

Mac screenshots are taken at the display's pixel size, which on a Retina
screen is twice the size the interface is laid out in. Here is what common
captures come to, using the rule above:

| Screenshot | Pixels | High-resolution: sent as | Tokens | Standard: sent as | Tokens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A cropped panel (400 × 250 pt) | 800 × 500 | not resized | 522 | not resized | 522 |
| One window (1280 × 800 pt) | 2560 × 1600 | 2419 × 1512 | 4698 | 1389 × 868 | 1550 |
| Whole 14-inch MacBook Pro screen | 3024 × 1964 | 2380 × 1546 | 4760 | 1372 × 891 | 1568 |
| Whole 16-inch MacBook Pro screen | 3456 × 2234 | 2383 × 1540 | 4730 | 1372 × 887 | 1568 |
| Whole 5K display | 5120 × 2880 | 2576 × 1449 | 4784 | 1456 × 819 | 1560 |

Two things stand out:

1. **A full screen costs about nine times a cropped panel** on a
   high-resolution model, and gets no more detail about the bug.
2. **On standard models a full Retina screen is shrunk to under half its
   width.** Body text that was 13 points on screen arrives a few pixels
   tall. The model may not be able to read the exact error message you
   captured it for.

## Crop instead of shrinking

Anthropic's own advice for images with important text is to make sure the
text is legible, and to crop or resize before sending rather than let the
image be scaled down. For screenshots that means:

- **Capture the region, not the screen.** An area or a single window keeps
  text at full size.
- **Keep some context.** Crop to the problem plus enough around it to place
  it: the panel, not just the button. The docs warn against cropping out
  context only to make text bigger.
- **Use one image per problem.** Two cropped screenshots cost less than one
  full screen and are easier to refer to.
- **Prefer PNG for UI.** Heavy JPEG compression blurs small text.

![Cropping a capture to one panel in Bigshot's editor.](https://www.bigshot.pics/screenshots/tool-crop-tile.webp)

## Many screenshots in one conversation

Images stay in the conversation, and each turn sends the history again, so a
session with a dozen full-screen captures carries tens of thousands of image
tokens. Cropped captures keep long sessions cheaper. There are also request
limits: above 20 images in one API request, each image must be at most
2000 px on a side.

## In practice

| You want Claude to | Capture |
|---|---|
| Read an error message | The dialog or the terminal pane |
| Fix spacing or alignment | The component, plus a little around it |
| Understand a page layout | The window; one capture |
| Compare two states | Two crops of the same region |

[Bigshot](https://www.bigshot.pics/) is built around this: area, window and Smart capture (with a licence; it
snaps to the panel under the pointer) give you the region rather than the
screen, and the editor crops to the problem before you drag it into Claude
Code. See also
[How to paste a screenshot into Claude Code](https://www.bigshot.pics/blog/paste-screenshot-into-claude-code).