diff --git a/src/aspire/commands/extract_particles.py b/src/aspire/commands/extract_particles.py
index 572691d849..10e801121a 100644
--- a/src/aspire/commands/extract_particles.py
+++ b/src/aspire/commands/extract_particles.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import click
 from click import UsageError
 
+from aspire.noise import WhiteNoiseEstimator
 from aspire.source.coordinates import BoxesCoordinateSource, CentersCoordinateSource
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -37,6 +38,27 @@
     is_flag=True,
     help="Set this flag if coordinate files contain (X,Y) particle centers",
 )
+@click.option(
+    "--downsample",
+    default=0,
+    type=int,
+    help="Downsample the images to this resolution prior to saving to starfile/.mrcs stack",
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--normalize_bg",
+    is_flag=True,
+    help="Normalize the images to have mean zero and variance one in the corners",
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--whiten",
+    is_flag=True,
+    help="Estimate the noise variance of the images and whiten",
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--invert_contrast",
+    is_flag=True,
+    help="Invert the contrast of the images to ensure that clean particles have positive intensity",
+)
 @click.option(
     "--batch_size", default=512, help="Batch size to load images from .mrc files"
 )
@@ -54,6 +76,10 @@ def extract_particles(
     starfile_out,
     particle_size,
     centers,
+    downsample,
+    normalize_bg,
+    whiten,
+    invert_contrast,
     batch_size,
     save_mode,
     overwrite,
@@ -109,6 +135,17 @@ def extract_particles(
             particle_size=particle_size,
         )
 
+    # optional preprocessing steps
+    if 0 < downsample < src.L:
+        src.downsample(downsample)
+    if normalize_bg:
+        src.normalize_background()
+    if whiten:
+        estimator = WhiteNoiseEstimator(src)
+        src.whiten(estimator.filter)
+    if invert_contrast:
+        src.invert_contrast()
+
     # saves to .mrcs and STAR file with column "_rlnImageName"
     src.save(
         starfile_out, batch_size=batch_size, save_mode=save_mode, overwrite=overwrite
diff --git a/src/aspire/commands/preprocess.py b/src/aspire/commands/preprocess.py
index b7ef198c1a..e91208a6d7 100644
--- a/src/aspire/commands/preprocess.py
+++ b/src/aspire/commands/preprocess.py
@@ -31,24 +31,28 @@
 )
 @click.option("--flip_phase", default=True, help="Perform phase flip or not")
 @click.option(
-    "--max_resolution",
-    default=16,
+    "--downsample",
+    default=0,
     type=int,
-    help="Resolution for downsampling images read from STAR file",
+    help="Downsample the images to this resolution prior to saving to starfile/.mrcs stack",
 )
 @click.option(
-    "--normalize_background",
+    "--normalize_bg",
     default=True,
-    help="Whether to normalize images to background noise",
+    help="Normalize the images to have mean zero and variance one in the corners",
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--whiten",
+    default=True,
+    help="Estimate the noise variance of the images and whiten",
 )
-@click.option("--whiten_noise", default=True, help="Whiten background noise")
 @click.option(
     "--invert_contrast",
     default=True,
-    help="Invert the contrast of images so molecules are shown in white",
+    help="Invert the contrast of the images to ensure that clean particles have positive intensity",
 )
 @click.option(
-    "--batch_size", default=512, help="Batch size to load images from MRC files."
+    "--batch_size", default=512, help="Batch size to load images from MRC files"
 )
 @click.option(
     "--save_mode",
@@ -67,9 +71,9 @@ def preprocess(
     pixel_size,
     max_rows,
     flip_phase,
-    max_resolution,
-    normalize_background,
-    whiten_noise,
+    downsample,
+    normalize_bg,
+    whiten,
     invert_contrast,
     batch_size,
     save_mode,
@@ -88,15 +92,15 @@ def preprocess(
         logger.info("Perform phase flip to input images")
         source.phase_flip()
 
-    if max_resolution < source.L:
-        logger.info(f"Downsample resolution to {max_resolution} X {max_resolution}")
-        source.downsample(max_resolution)
+    if 0 < downsample < source.L:
+        logger.info(f"Downsample resolution to {downsample} X {downsample}")
+        source.downsample(downsample)
 
-    if normalize_background:
+    if normalize_bg:
         logger.info("Normalize images to noise background")
         source.normalize_background()
 
-    if whiten_noise:
+    if whiten:
         logger.info("Whiten noise of images")
         noise_estimator = WhiteNoiseEstimator(source)
         source.whiten(noise_estimator.filter)
diff --git a/tests/test_coordinate_source.py b/tests/test_coordinate_source.py
index a1fc26d433..9050e65e46 100644
--- a/tests/test_coordinate_source.py
+++ b/tests/test_coordinate_source.py
@@ -343,7 +343,20 @@ def testCommand(self):
                 "--particle_size=256",
             ],
         )
+        result_preprocess = runner.invoke(
+            extract_particles,
+            [
+                f"--mrc_paths={self.data_folder}/*.mrc",
+                f"--coord_paths={self.data_folder}/sample*.box",
+                f"--starfile_out={self.data_folder}/saved_star_ds.star",
+                "--downsample=33",
+                "--normalize_bg",
+                "--whiten",
+                "--invert_contrast",
+            ],
+        )
         # check that all commands completed successfully
         self.assertTrue(result_box.exit_code == 0)
         self.assertTrue(result_coord.exit_code == 0)
         self.assertTrue(result_star.exit_code == 0)
+        self.assertTrue(result_preprocess.exit_code == 0)