Last updated: November 29, 2024 # Accidental breaking change for the crop resize strategy ![Kevin van Zonneveld](/assets/images/teammates/avatar-kvz-4.jpg?dpl=dpl_6nhQNS5wkVkPZWuKMzXcWrAHNJL5) **Kevin van Zonneveld** Co-founder · Amsterdam, The Netherlands · Show bio [](https://x.com/kvz)[](https://github.com/kvz) On 4 June at 5:32pm CEST, we deployed a backward-compatibility-breaking change, even though we pledge to never 'just do' this and, for example, take[extreme care in stack herding](/blog/2017/07/new-imagemagick.md) to ensure our customers' setups only change when they choose to opt in. I was responsible for that decision and the reason for it was that I noticed that our `crop` [resize strategy](/docs/topics/resize-strategies.md) was not working as advertised. Instead, it mimicked the behavior of its `fillcrop` counterpart. After some deliberation, I decided to go ahead with the change thinking the `crop` resize strategy was currently not used by anyone at all due to the limited set of use cases for its purpose: "Who would want to crop images of unknown dimensions without supplying specific coordinates or[detecting faces](/docs/robots/image-facedetect.md)?" My reasoning was also supported by the fact that no one had ever noticed it was not implemented correctly for the past nine years. What I failed to take into consideration is the obvious case where someone might intend to use`fillcrop`, but accidentally configured `crop`, hence relying on faulty behavior by our platform. It is clear that I should have thought this through better so that I could have implemented it differently and made more of an effort to notify our customers about the upcoming fix. All this jeopardizes what we strive to be: a robust building block for business that can be blindly relied upon. I should have been more careful in this regard and I apologize for my poor judgement. We will be sure to learn from this mistake and make certain that it doesn't happen again. If you were accustomed to using `crop` and are now noticing weird images, please switch to the`fillcrop` strategy. Any affected images can be re-resized if you also exported the `:original`files. If you need assistance in repairing bad images, please reach out to[support](mailto:support@transloadit.com). While we will be able to repair most images, we do realize that we cannot make up for the potential headaches caused. Nonetheless, we are hoping to soften the pain a little, so please reach out if this happened to you and we will figure out suitable compensation. **Update June 8th** we are reverting this change for the time being. New customers are still discovering breakage due to this change. If you have already switched to `fillcrop` you don't have to do anything because that's the proper name for what you were trying to achieve. We'll just be aliasing `crop` to `fillcrop` again since it has few sane use cases on its own, and this is how the system has been working for 9 years. We'll likely slowly deprecate `crop` altogether (you'd still be able to crop images if you supplied the `crop` param, which is more advanced than the `crop` resize strategy). [#post-mortem](/blog/tags/post-mortem.md)[#image-processing-service](/blog/tags/image-processing-service.md)[#image-resize-robot](/blog/tags/image-resize-robot.md) ### 👩‍💻 Join 20k+ developers Sign up for our [monthly newsletter](/newsletters.md) to receive direct links to 3 exclusive tech — and 2 product updates. No less, no more. Your email: Get access ## File uploading and encoding. Made simple. Transloadit streamlines file handling for developers, trusted by brands like Coursera and The New York Times. We’re known for a reliable API, top-notch support, and a strong commitment to open source, with projects like [Uppy⁠](https://uppy.io) and [Tus⁠](https://tus.io) setting standards in file processing. [Sign up](/c/)[Book a Demo](https://survey.typeform.com/to/kRg47Xi5) No credit card needed · 5 GB included in the free plan Cancel anytime