Photo Print Crop Calculator
Photo labs don't stretch your image to fit a print size — they scale it to fill the frame and trim whatever overhangs. A 3:2 camera photo fits a 4×6 print exactly, but the same photo loses about a sixth of its width at 8×10. Most calculators either give you one DPI number or a vague warning that "cropping will be needed." This one tells you exactly how much, from which edge, for every standard size — so you can pick the size that keeps the shot you actually took, or crop it on purpose before you order.
How this is calculated
Labs "cover" the print frame: they scale your image up until it fills the frame with no gaps,
then trim whatever sticks out past the shorter dimension. The fraction lost is
1 − min(imageRatio, printRatio) / max(imageRatio, printRatio), where each ratio is
long side ÷ short side. Whichever shape is relatively more elongated loses the difference off its
long edge; the other one loses it off the short edge. This is arithmetic, not a looked-up figure —
you can verify any row by hand from your own photo's pixel dimensions.
What this assumes
- Crop-to-fill, not letterboxing. This is the default at essentially every consumer print lab and photo app. Some labs offer a bordered "fit" option instead of a crop — if yours does, this page's percentages describe the crop you'd get if you don't choose that.
- A straight, centred crop. Labs and apps that let you drag the crop box before ordering can move where the loss falls, but not how much of it there is — the percentage in the table is fixed by the two ratios regardless of where you position it.
- It does not account for a lab's own trim tolerance, mounting, or bleed margins — those vary by lab and are not part of the aspect-ratio arithmetic itself.