Steps to replicate

1. Configure a site for podcasting
2. Publish a podcast post. Add a featured image that has equal width and height.
3. View the site's podcast feed and look for the itunes:image line for the post in the feed.

Result

A sizing parameter is added to the image URL: ?w=740&h=430&crop=1

This causes the image in the feed to be cropped, and for distributors like Spotify and Apple Podcasts to use the cropped image instead.

This appears to happen regardless of the media thumbnail presets in media settings.

Expected

For the image to appear in the feed without any cropping. In TwentyTwenty, for example, only a width parameter is added, depending on the size of the actual image.

• User report: https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/podcast-images-appear-cropped-in-spotify-from-wordpress-feed/