Frame Sizes Made Simple: What 2:3, 3:4, and 4:5 Actually Mean

Buy one of our prints and you get five files. The reason is aspect ratio: the relationship between width and height. A frame is not just a size, it belongs to a proportion family, and a file in the right proportion fills its frame edge to edge with nothing cut off.

The 2:3 family

Twice as tall as two-thirds of its width: 4x6, 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30, and 24x36 all live here. This is the proportion of most poster frames and the classic 35mm photograph, and it is the size most people pick for a statement piece like Trust Me.

The 3:4 and 4:5 families

These are the slightly squarer proportions of 6x8, 9x12, 12x16, and 18x24 in the 3:4 family, and 8x10, 16x20, and 24x30 in the 4:5 family. Gallery frames and ready-made frames from home stores are usually one of these two, which is why a print like A Limb Has Fallen looks right the moment it comes out of the printer.

11x14 and the international A sizes

The 11x14 frame is its own beast, common in thrift stores and craft shops, so we cut a file for it specifically. The A-series file covers A5 through A1, the standard in Europe and for many online labs.

So which file do you print?

• Look at your frame, or the frame you plan to buy
• Find its size in the families above
• Print the file named for that family at your frame size

That is the whole system. If you are still deciding on a frame, our picks wall lets you hang prints on a to-scale wall and step them through real sizes before you spend anything, and the printing guide covers what to ask for once you take the file to a lab.