Qt: resizing a QLabel containing a QPixmap while keeping its aspect ratio

In order to change the label size you can select an appropriate size policy for the label like expanding or minimum expanding.

You can scale the pixmap by keeping its aspect ratio every time it changes:

QPixmap p; // load pixmap
// get label dimensions
int w = label->width();
int h = label->height();

// set a scaled pixmap to a w x h window keeping its aspect ratio 
label->setPixmap(p.scaled(w,h,Qt::KeepAspectRatio));

There are two places where you should add this code:

• When the pixmap is updated
• In the resizeEvent of the widget that contains the label

Adapted from Timmmm to PYQT5

from PyQt5.QtGui import QPixmap
from PyQt5.QtGui import QResizeEvent
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QLabel


class Label(QLabel):

    def __init__(self):
        super(Label, self).__init__()
        self.pixmap_width: int = 1
        self.pixmapHeight: int = 1

    def setPixmap(self, pm: QPixmap) -> None:
        self.pixmap_width = pm.width()
        self.pixmapHeight = pm.height()

        self.updateMargins()
        super(Label, self).setPixmap(pm)

    def resizeEvent(self, a0: QResizeEvent) -> None:
        self.updateMargins()
        super(Label, self).resizeEvent(a0)

    def updateMargins(self):
        if self.pixmap() is None:
            return
        pixmapWidth = self.pixmap().width()
        pixmapHeight = self.pixmap().height()
        if pixmapWidth <= 0 or pixmapHeight <= 0:
            return
        w, h = self.width(), self.height()
        if w <= 0 or h <= 0:
            return

        if w * pixmapHeight > h * pixmapWidth:
            m = int((w - (pixmapWidth * h / pixmapHeight)) / 2)
            self.setContentsMargins(m, 0, m, 0)
        else:
            m = int((h - (pixmapHeight * w / pixmapWidth)) / 2)
            self.setContentsMargins(0, m, 0, m)

I just use contentsMargin to fix the aspect ratio.

#pragma once

#include <QLabel>

class AspectRatioLabel : public QLabel
{
public:
    explicit AspectRatioLabel(QWidget* parent = nullptr, Qt::WindowFlags f = Qt::WindowFlags());
    ~AspectRatioLabel();

public slots:
    void setPixmap(const QPixmap& pm);

protected:
    void resizeEvent(QResizeEvent* event) override;

private:
    void updateMargins();

    int pixmapWidth = 0;
    int pixmapHeight = 0;
};

#include "AspectRatioLabel.h"

AspectRatioLabel::AspectRatioLabel(QWidget* parent, Qt::WindowFlags f) : QLabel(parent, f)
{
}

AspectRatioLabel::~AspectRatioLabel()
{
}

void AspectRatioLabel::setPixmap(const QPixmap& pm)
{
    pixmapWidth = pm.width();
    pixmapHeight = pm.height();

    updateMargins();
    QLabel::setPixmap(pm);
}

void AspectRatioLabel::resizeEvent(QResizeEvent* event)
{
    updateMargins();
    QLabel::resizeEvent(event);
}

void AspectRatioLabel::updateMargins()
{
    if (pixmapWidth <= 0 || pixmapHeight <= 0)
        return;

    int w = this->width();
    int h = this->height();

    if (w <= 0 || h <= 0)
        return;

    if (w * pixmapHeight > h * pixmapWidth)
    {
        int m = (w - (pixmapWidth * h / pixmapHeight)) / 2;
        setContentsMargins(m, 0, m, 0);
    }
    else
    {
        int m = (h - (pixmapHeight * w / pixmapWidth)) / 2;
        setContentsMargins(0, m, 0, m);
    }
}

Works perfectly for me so far. You're welcome.

I have polished this missing subclass of QLabel. It is awesome and works well.

aspectratiopixmaplabel.h

#ifndef ASPECTRATIOPIXMAPLABEL_H
#define ASPECTRATIOPIXMAPLABEL_H

#include <QLabel>
#include <QPixmap>
#include <QResizeEvent>

class AspectRatioPixmapLabel : public QLabel
{
    Q_OBJECT
public:
    explicit AspectRatioPixmapLabel(QWidget *parent = 0);
    virtual int heightForWidth( int width ) const;
    virtual QSize sizeHint() const;
    QPixmap scaledPixmap() const;
public slots:
    void setPixmap ( const QPixmap & );
    void resizeEvent(QResizeEvent *);
private:
    QPixmap pix;
};

#endif // ASPECTRATIOPIXMAPLABEL_H

aspectratiopixmaplabel.cpp

#include "aspectratiopixmaplabel.h"
//#include <QDebug>

AspectRatioPixmapLabel::AspectRatioPixmapLabel(QWidget *parent) :
    QLabel(parent)
{
    this->setMinimumSize(1,1);
    setScaledContents(false);
}

void AspectRatioPixmapLabel::setPixmap ( const QPixmap & p)
{
    pix = p;
    QLabel::setPixmap(scaledPixmap());
}

int AspectRatioPixmapLabel::heightForWidth( int width ) const
{
    return pix.isNull() ? this->height() : ((qreal)pix.height()*width)/pix.width();
}

QSize AspectRatioPixmapLabel::sizeHint() const
{
    int w = this->width();
    return QSize( w, heightForWidth(w) );
}

QPixmap AspectRatioPixmapLabel::scaledPixmap() const
{
    return pix.scaled(this->size(), Qt::KeepAspectRatio, Qt::SmoothTransformation);
}

void AspectRatioPixmapLabel::resizeEvent(QResizeEvent * e)
{
    if(!pix.isNull())
        QLabel::setPixmap(scaledPixmap());
}

Hope that helps! (Updated resizeEvent, per @dmzl's answer)