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

Solution 1:

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

Solution 2:

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)