Why Chrome can’t drag images from X and other sites to save or open them when they exceed 2.25 million pixels

In Google Chrome 149, users can’t drag and drop images from websites, including X and pixiv, to save them or open them in a new tab.

This bug affects images over 2.25 million pixels. Until the Chromium team ships a fix, you need to save images or open them in a new tab from the right-click menu.

Chrome bug prevents users from dragging images

Users have run into a bug in Chrome where dragging an image to the desktop or a folder does not save it, and dragging an image to open it in a new tab does not work.

Normally, you can drag an image from a web page to save it or open it in a new tab, but Chrome 149 breaks that behavior.

You can drag, save, and open small images without issue. With larger images, the drag operation fails, and Chrome shows no error.

I reproduced the issue on Windows 11 with Chrome 149.0.7827.115.

In my testing, I found that users can drag, save, and open images up to 2.25 million pixels, but cannot do so with images over that limit.

This bug appears to come from an issue that prevents users from dragging images over 2.25 million pixels.

Because the drag operation itself fails, you cannot save an image by drag and drop or open it in a new tab by drag and drop.

Since this bug comes from Chromium, users can reproduce it not just in Chrome but also in Chromium-based browsers such as Brave and Edge.

Workaround for saving images from the right-click menu

Chromium developers are working on a fix, so they should resolve this bug soon.

Until then, use the right-click menu to save images.

1. Right-click the image you want to save

2. Select [Save image as]

3. Choose a save location and save the image

You can also open an image in a new tab from the right-click menu.

1. Right-click the image you want to open in a new tab

2. Select [Open image in new tab]

Cause of the bug in image drag handling

Chromium creates a drag image near the mouse cursor when you drag an image.

For images with large pixel counts, Chromium does not create that drag image. In earlier versions, Chromium continued the drag operation even when it did not create a drag image.

In Chromium 149, a bug causes Chromium to cancel the drag operation when it does not create a drag image. As a result, when you drag an image with a large pixel count, Chromium cancels the drag right away, so you cannot save it or open it in a new tab.

After checking the Chromium source code, I found that Chromium sets the maximum total pixel count for drag images to 1500 × 1500, or 2,250,000px.

Because of this, Chromium creates a drag image for images up to 2.25 million pixels, so you can drag them. For images larger than 2.25 million pixels, Chromium does not create a drag image, cancels the drag, and prevents you from saving the image or opening it in a new tab.

My tests also matched the 2.25 million pixel threshold

I created several dummy images for testing and confirmed that users can drag and save images up to 2.25 million pixels, while images larger than 2.25 million pixels cannot be dragged.

Regardless of file size, I could save a 2250×1000px image, but I could not save a 2251×1000px image.

The image aspect ratio did not matter.

For example, a 4096×256px image has a long side of 4096px, but its total pixel count comes to about 1.05 million pixels, so I could save it. A 1536×1536px image has a long side of 1536px, but its total pixel count comes to about 2.36 million pixels, so I could not save it.

The test results showed that Chrome’s drag-to-save behavior fails based on total pixel count, not file size or long-side length.

The boundary I found in testing falls between 2250×1000px and 2251×1000px. This matches the Chromium source code, which shows that Chromium does not create drag images for images over 2.25 million pixels.

My analysis

Many users see this bug as a problem that prevents them from dragging and saving large images, but the actual cause is a drag failure with large images.

Chromium does not create the image shown during dragging for standard images over 2.25 million pixels.

Chromium 148 and earlier continued the drag operation even in that state. In Chromium 149, a refactoring mistake changed the behavior so Chromium cancels the drag operation itself.

Some users report that they cannot save images after enlarging them on X or pixiv, or that saving fails at random, but my testing showed a pattern.

When users view an image without enlarging it, the site likely loads a low-resolution thumbnail. When users enlarge it, the site loads a high-resolution image, and that image may exceed 2.25 million pixels.

Chrome developers are working on a fix, so users should receive a fixed version soon.