Pet portrait print sizes: the complete chart
The standard pet portrait print sizes are 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, 12x16, 16x20, 18x24 and 24x36 inches, plus A4 and A3 for international customers and 8x8 and 12x12 for square prints. Each one needs its inches multiplied by 300 to get the pixels for a sharp print — 2,400×3,000 for an 8x10, for example.
| Print size | Inches | Pixels at 300 DPI | Pixels at 200 DPI | Camera needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5x7" | 5 × 7 | 1,500 × 2,100 | 1,000 × 1,400 | 3.1 MP |
| 8x8" | 8 × 8 | 2,400 × 2,400 | 1,600 × 1,600 | 5.8 MP |
| 8x10" | 8 × 10 | 2,400 × 3,000 | 1,600 × 2,000 | 7.2 MP |
| A4 | 8.27 × 11.69 | 2,481 × 3,507 | 1,654 × 2,338 | 8.7 MP |
| 11x14" | 11 × 14 | 3,300 × 4,200 | 2,200 × 2,800 | 14 MP |
| 12x12" | 12 × 12 | 3,600 × 3,600 | 2,400 × 2,400 | 13 MP |
| 12x16" | 12 × 16 | 3,600 × 4,800 | 2,400 × 3,200 | 17 MP |
| A3 | 11.69 × 16.54 | 3,507 × 4,962 | 2,338 × 3,308 | 17 MP |
| 16x20" | 16 × 20 | 4,800 × 6,000 | 3,200 × 4,000 | 29 MP |
| 18x24" | 18 × 24 | 5,400 × 7,200 | 3,600 × 4,800 | 39 MP |
| 24x36" | 24 × 36 | 7,200 × 10,800 | 4,800 × 7,200 | 78 MP |
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Which sizes should you actually list?
Four is usually the right number. More than that and the listing dropdown becomes a decision the customer has to work at; fewer and you leave money on the table at the top end.
Start with 5x7, 8x10, 11x14 and 16x20, and add A4 if you ship outside the US. Those all fit off-the-shelf frames, which matters more than it sounds: a customer who has to order custom framing frequently does not, and the print sits in a drawer instead of on a wall where their friends can ask about it.
Why 200 DPI is a real answer, not a cop-out
Print resolution requirements scale with viewing distance. A 5x7 on a desk is inspected from a foot away and genuinely needs 300 DPI. A 24x36 on a wall is viewed from six feet, where 200 DPI is indistinguishable from 300. The larger the print, the more forgiving the requirement — which is fortunate, because large prints are where the pixel demands become unreasonable.
The exception is fur. Close crops of an animal’s face carry thousands of fine high-contrast strands, and those are the first thing to smear when resolution runs short. For a tight head-and-shoulders portrait, bias toward 300 even at large sizes.
Every size in detail
Each size has its own page with the camera requirements, the crop maths and the mistakes specific to it.
5x7"
1,500 × 2,100 px at 300 DPI
The entry-level print. Forgiving on resolution, which makes it the safe fallback when a customer sends a small phone photo.
8x8"
2,400 × 2,400 px at 300 DPI
Square format, popular for Instagram-style crops and gallery walls. Crops hard on a portrait-orientation source photo.
8x10"
2,400 × 3,000 px at 300 DPI
The single most-ordered pet portrait size. Fits standard off-the-shelf frames, so customers do not need custom framing.
A4
2,481 × 3,507 px at 300 DPI
The international equivalent of 8x10. If you sell to the UK, EU or Australia you need this alongside the US sizes, not instead of them.
11x14"
3,300 × 4,200 px at 300 DPI
The step-up size. Big enough to read as a statement piece, still a standard frame size.
12x12"
3,600 × 3,600 px at 300 DPI
Large square. Common in record-sleeve-style gallery walls and for pairs of pets hung side by side.
12x16"
3,600 × 4,800 px at 300 DPI
A 3:4 ratio, which matches most phone camera sensors exactly. If the source is an unedited iPhone photo, this size crops the least.
A3
3,507 × 4,962 px at 300 DPI
The international large format. Roughly between 11x14 and 12x16, so it needs its own crop rather than a rescale of either.
16x20"
4,800 × 6,000 px at 300 DPI
Where phone photos start to fail. A 12 MP iPhone shot cannot hit 300 DPI here, and this is the size that generates refund requests.
18x24"
5,400 × 7,200 px at 300 DPI
Poster scale. Viewed from further away, so 200 DPI is genuinely acceptable here in a way it is not at 8x10.
24x36"
7,200 × 10,800 px at 300 DPI
The largest size worth offering from a photographic source. Needs 7200x10800px for a true 300 DPI print — that is a 78 MP camera.
Print size questions
- What are the standard pet portrait print sizes?
- The sizes that sell are 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, 12x16, 16x20, 18x24 and 24x36 inches, plus A4 and A3 for international customers and 8x8 and 12x12 for square gallery-wall prints. 8x10 and A4 are the volume sellers because they fit off-the-shelf frames.
- Which print sizes should a new pet portrait shop offer?
- Start with 5x7, 8x10, 11x14 and 16x20, and add A4 if you ship internationally. Those four cover most orders, all fit standard frames, and they span a price range wide enough to give customers a real choice without overwhelming the listing.
- Why do you list both inches and A-series sizes?
- Because a customer in the UK, EU or Australia buying an "8x10" cannot easily buy a frame for it, and a US customer cannot easily frame an A4. They are close in area but not interchangeable, so international shops need to offer both rather than substituting one for the other.
- What is the largest pet portrait I can print from a phone photo?
- A standard 12 MP phone photo (3024x4032 pixels) prints sharply up to about A4 or 8x10 at 300 DPI, and is acceptable framed up to around A3 or 12x16 at 200 DPI. Above that it becomes visibly soft, and 16x20 is where customers start noticing.