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2.8 – Magic Expand Lesson

Magic Expand lets you quickly adjust the size and shape of any image by automatically generating new background content to fill the space. This feature is perfect for resizing visuals or creating extra room around a subject. Learn how to get the most from Magic Expand by following the walkthrough video for hands-on steps and real design examples.

What you'll learn

  • Apply Magic Expand to increase the size of your images without cropping the subject

  • Choose the right expansion mode—Freeform, Whole Page, or 1:1 Ratio—for your needs

  • Use Magic Expand to change image proportions for banners, posts, or slides

  • Move subjects within expanded backgrounds to make space for text or other elements

  • Evaluate and select from multiple AI-generated background fills

  • Adapt any photo for new layouts while keeping designs visually balanced

Lesson Overview

This lesson introduces Canva’s Magic Expand tool in the Magic Studio set. Magic Expand is designed to solve a common creative challenge: making images larger or changing their shape without stretching, cropping, or losing important details. When working with fixed canvas sizes—such as social media banners or presentations—you often need to resize an existing image to fit neatly. Instead of manually filling gaps or finding new photos, Magic Expand uses AI to generate plausible, visually consistent extensions of your image’s background.

You’ll learn what options Magic Expand offers, how the tool fits into Canva’s broader AI editing features, and when to use different settings. For example, you can take a square photo and seamlessly expand it into a widescreen format, adjust a subject’s position for better composition, or add space for text overlays. This skill is valuable whether you’re refreshing old images, adapting assets for new formats, or simply want more flexibility in your layouts. Magic Expand supports a faster, more creative workflow for marketers, educators, content creators, and anyone who needs custom-fitted visuals.

Who This Is For

Anyone who works with images and wants an easy way to reframe or resize them will benefit from this lesson.
Consider this lesson if you are:

  • A social media manager creating posts in varying dimensions
  • A marketer or advertiser preparing banners, slides, or ad graphics
  • An educator building presentations with visually balanced slides
  • A content creator adapting images for different channels
  • A designer needing space for captions, headlines, or creative compositions
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Where This Fits in a Workflow

Magic Expand comes into play anytime you need to adjust an image to fit a specific layout without compromising its main content. For example, you might have a portrait photo that needs to fill a wide banner, or a design with a subject centered when you’d prefer off-center composition for added text.

A practical example: converting a square image of a person into a landscape graphic for an event flyer, then moving the person to one side and filling the empty space with generated background for text placement. Magic Expand streamlines these tasks, reducing the need for manual edits or sourcing new images. It’s most useful right after you’ve placed your main visual but before adding final text or elements.

Technical & Workflow Benefits

Before Magic Expand, designers often had to manually clone or blend backgrounds using complex tools—or crop in so tightly that important image content was lost. Magic Expand changes this by generating realistic background extensions with just a few clicks, cutting out the need for time-consuming manual fixes.

In practice, this means you can resize and reframe images to fit new proportions, even if the original doesn’t match your target dimensions. For example, quickly transforming a standard photo into a banner-ready visual, or repositioning a person to make creative space for an ad headline, can now be done in moments. The tool improves project speed, creates design consistency across assets, and removes barriers to repurposing visuals for multiple channels.

Practice Exercise

Try using Magic Expand on a real photo of your own—preferably one that’s not the right size for your current project.
Steps:

  1. Create a new 1920x1080 Canva design and add one of your square or portrait images.
  2. Select the image, open the Edit menu, and choose Magic Expand. Pick either the Freeform or Whole Page option depending on your goal.
  3. Expand the image, review the four generated background options, and select your favorite.

After you’ve expanded and positioned your image, ask yourself: Did Magic Expand help you create a composition that wouldn’t have been possible with cropping or stretching? How did the new background selections impact your overall design?

Course Context Recap

Magic Expand is a key feature in Canva Magic Studio, providing AI-driven assistance for resizing and reframing images. This lesson follows your introduction to background and subject editing tools, building your confidence in transforming visuals for different needs. Coming up, you’ll explore even more ways to automate design tasks and add creative AI-powered enhancements.


Continue with the course to unlock the full potential of Canva Magic Studio and streamline your design workflow.