Relative Image Width sizes embedded images with percent, em, rem and viewport units

Name: Relative Image Width
Author: theluckystrike

Add a size such as 50% to an image link and the image fills half the text column.

Install in Obsidian

Directory page Source on GitHub

MIT · no telemetry · core features free

Live Preview shows three images at 50 percent, 25 percent and 12 rem of the text column. — Open larger

version: 1.0.0
released: 2026-10-25
downloads: 1
review: Passed
health: Excellent
license: MIT
listed for: Desktop, Mobile
obsidian: 1.13.4 or later

The directory takes these platforms from the plugin manifest. The automated tests run in the desktop app only.

Directory facts fetched 2026-10-25 03:29 UTC from community.obsidian.md/users/theluckystrike.

About Relative Image Width

You embed images in notes that you read on screens of different sizes and want sizes that scale.

Obsidian reads a size such as |300 in an image link as 300 pixels and nothing else. Relative Image Width also reads percent, em, rem, vw and vh, so |50% means half the text column. The plugin changes how the image looks and never writes to your note.

A note with four images: first each image fills the column, then the plugin sizes them at 50 percent, 25 percent, 12 rem and 200 pixels

Free features

Relative sizes in the image link

Put the size as the last part of the link, such as |50%, |50%x30%, |70em, |20rem or |40vw. The Markdown image form takes the size after the alt text, as in Sunset|50%. An image never grows wider than the text column.

What Obsidian does without it

Without the plugin, Obsidian ignores a size that is not a pixel number. Each such image fills the text column. Pixel sizes work in both cases.

Live Preview

Each image shows at its size while you write. Put the cursor on the line of the link to edit the link text. A pixel size such as |200 stays exactly as Obsidian draws it.

Reading view

Reading view shows the same sizes. This includes images in a table cell, where you write \| before the size.

Pandoc attributes

Turn on Read Pandoc attributes in the settings to size an image from a block such as {width=50%} right after the link. Reading view hides the block, and Live Preview hides it when the cursor is not on its line. The setting is off by default, so other text in braces does not change.

Reading view shows an image sized by a Pandoc width of 30 percent with the block hidden. — Open larger

The free version has every size form, in both views, and the Pandoc attributes, but no default size.

Pro features

Pro costs $5 a month or $15 one time through GitHub Sponsors. One sponsorship turns on Pro in every plugin that has it.

Default size for a note Pro

Pro sets a default size, such as 100% or 40rem, for every image that has no size in its link. The note property image-width sets the default for one note and wins over the setting. A size in the link wins over both.

Reading view of a note with image-width set to 40 percent shows the unsized image at 40 percent. — Open larger

See how Pro works

Set up Relative Image Width

needs

Obsidian 1.13.4 or later

steps

Embed an image as usual.
Add | and a size with a unit as the last part of the link, such as |50%.
Read the note in Live Preview or Reading view.

If the app can't find a new plugin yet, try again later. Obsidian says a plugin that passes the review shows in the app within 24 hours.

Why this exists

A forum request from 2021 asks Obsidian to allow relative units, not just pixels, or Pandoc notation. The topic has 51 likes and its first post has 22.

Image resize: Allow relative units, not just pixels (or Pandoc notation)opened 2021-04-20

Questions about Relative Image Width

Does it change my notes?

No. The link stays as you wrote it. Open and close a note and the file is the same, byte for byte.

What happens if I turn the plugin off?

The images show at their natural size, limited by the text column. Pixel sizes do not change. Turn the plugin on again and the sizes come back.

Why does my image not get smaller?

Check that the size is the last part of the link, with no space between the number and the unit. Write 50%, not 50 %. An image cannot be wider than the text column.

Does Obsidian Publish show the sizes?

No. Publish does not run community plugins.

Does it size note embeds or PDF embeds?

No. The plugin sizes image embeds only. A note embed or a PDF embed with |50% stays as Obsidian draws it.

Network use

Until you select Sign in with GitHub, Relative Image Width makes no network requests. Sign in and the sponsorship check contact github.com and api.github.com with the scope read:user, and a successful check is reused for 7 days. The plugin sends no note content, file names or other vault data.

Read the full network disclosure