Preview Rounds Corners of Square Image

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Level 2

191 points

Preview Rounds Corners of Square Image

This is a screen shot of a pdf image file of a square grid opened in Preview 11.0. If I open the file in Safari, it's properly square. I understand (kind of) the choice to round window corners, but surely the content shouldn't be affected. Safari windows also have round corners but it displays this image correctly. Is this a bug?

I can add that the image also has rounded corners (but to a lesser degree) in Preview in iPadOS 26.0.1.

[Edited by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 26.0

Posted on Oct 26, 2025 4:11 PM

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Answer 1

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neuroanatomist

Level 9

55,905 points

Oct 26, 2025 9:13 PM in response to Erroll

You are correct. As I stated, this is a design choice by Apple. @dialabrain is correct that Apple's implementation of the rounded corners doesn't affect the image itself, but it certainly affects how the image is displayed and zooming out in Preview does not change that.

Here's a downloaded PDF that I opened in Preview then closed, the opened in Preview and in Acrobat Reader. The pdfs are slightly zoomed out, the rounded corners are there in the way Apple displays it, but not in the file itself nor in the way Adobe displays it.

It's not really a bug, though – it's a design choice. Only Apple can change that, but you can choose to use 3rd party software that doesn't round the corners, if you prefer.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

135,899 points

Oct 26, 2025 4:44 PM in response to Erroll

It doesn't affect the image. If you Zoom Out you will see the corners are still square.

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Answer 3

Oct 26, 2025 4:30 PM in response to Erroll

It’s a design choice by Apple. To have Apple consider your feedback, submit it here:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

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Answer 4

Erroll Author

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191 points

Oct 26, 2025 10:29 PM in response to Erroll

If I save a screen shot of the fully square image from Safari above, my M4 Mac mini makes a jpeg and this displays properly in Preview, as does yours.

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Answer 5

Erroll Author

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Oct 26, 2025 4:37 PM in response to neuroanatomist

Thanks for the response. I've filed what I consider a bug report. If changing the shape of images was a design choice, I think Safari would it, too.

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Answer 6

dialabrain

Level 10

135,899 points

Oct 26, 2025 9:16 PM in response to Erroll

Here is the screen shot of your third image in Preview on my M3 iMac running Tahoe. As you can see, the corners aren't rounded.

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Answer 7

Erroll Author

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Oct 26, 2025 9:04 PM in response to dialabrain

I didn't zoom out on a screen shot. I opened the pdf image file—you're aware that's a format, right?—in Preview, expanded the Preview window then took a screen shot of it. The corners of the image are rounded at any zoom level.

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Answer 8

Erroll Author

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Oct 26, 2025 5:26 PM in response to dialabrain

It does affect the image. Here it is zoomed out as far as my screen allows. Corners still round.

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Answer 9

dialabrain

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Oct 26, 2025 8:55 PM in response to Erroll

It won't work if you take a screen shot of an image that already had round corners and zoom out. I have approx. 24,000 images and none of them had the corners rounded.

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Answer 10

Erroll Author

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Oct 26, 2025 9:10 PM in response to Erroll

And here's a screen shot of the same file in Preview on my iPad Pro, where the corners are slightly less rounded.

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Answer 11

Erroll Author

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Oct 26, 2025 9:09 PM in response to Erroll

And here's a screen shot of the same file opened by Safari. The Safari window also has rounded corners, but the image is now the right shape.

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Answer 12

dialabrain

Level 10

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Oct 26, 2025 9:23 PM in response to dialabrain

Here is a PDF in Preview…

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Answer 13

dialabrain

Level 10

135,899 points

Oct 26, 2025 9:30 PM in response to Erroll

Last image, another PDF in Preview…

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Answer 14

Erroll Author

Level 2

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Oct 26, 2025 10:21 PM in response to dialabrain

I'll try that.

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Answer 15

Erroll Author

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Oct 26, 2025 10:14 PM in response to dialabrain

Your files are, I believe, pdf format. Mine is a pdf image file, which is just basically a picture in a pdf container. I suspect this is why it displays differently.

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