To provide an image processing apparatus and a method which are capable of suppressing a shape change and density variation to be few, and carrying out a magnification varying operation of an image.

An image processing apparatus 10 comprises: an operation position determination unit 13 which determines a pixel operation position which is an insertion position or a deletion position of a pixel in accordance with a variable magnification ratio; an insertion deletion unit 14 which inserts or deletes a pixel in/from the determined pixel operation position; an error calculation unit 15 which calculates as an error a density difference before and after insertion/deletion in a peripheral area of the inserted/deleted pixel; and an error distribution unit 16 which performs distributing the error to "the inserted pixel" and "the peripheral pixel of the inserted or deleted pixel" so that a pixel value at the distribution destination after the pixel has been distributed may come within an allowable range estimated from a pixel value of a neighborhood pixel of the pixel (a range where density continuity with the neighborhood pixel is maintained).