You'd be surprised by how large you can print your digital photos...
The size you can print a digital photo depends on how many pixels it has. Each pixel translates to a "dot" in the printing process, and the resolution of a print is measured in "dots per inch" or DPI. Our website enforces some minimum sizes on images uploaded to ensure a minimum DPI.
Here is a chart showing the target pixel requirements for our print sizes. We won't let you print anything less than decent quality.
The larger the print, the lower the DPI you can get away with, because you typically look at a large print from further away. If you're planning on viewing an image from three feet away, a 100 DPI is fine. For smaller prints, you should aim for a DPI of 300. Our website prevents you from printing a photo at less than 100 DPI.
There are several ways you can find the size of your digital photos.
On a Mac: Right click on the photo file and click "Get Info". In the Info panel you will see the "Dimensions" which shows the photo size in pixels.
On a PC: Locate your image in Windows Explorer and click on it. The dimensions will appear in the bottom of the window.
On an iPhone: As far as we know, there is no native iPhone tool to show you the size of your iPhone photos, but you can download a free app such Photo Investigator or simply email/Airdrop the image to your computer.
In Google Photos: On the app, tap the three dots next to the image and then tap "Info" to see the size of the image. On your computer, select a photo and then click the "i" in the upper right corner.
When you upload your photos to Instagram they are compressed to 72 DPI. Therefore how big you can print them is smaller than you'd expect. Additionally, the size of Instagram photos has varied over time.
The current sizes are:
◆ Square Instagram Photos: 1080px by 1080px. The maximum size you can print these is 5x5.
◆ Portrait Instagram Photos: 1080px by 1350px. The maximum size you can print these is 5x7
◆ Landscape Instagram Photos: 1080px by 566px. The maximum size you can print these is 4x6.
◆ Old Instagram Photos: Instagram photos posted before July 2015 are 640px by 640px or smaller. The maximum size you can print these is 4x4.
If you want to print your photo at a lower DPI than allowed by our website, you can resize your photo manually and then upload it. This can be done in most image editing programs.
e.g. In Preview on a Mac. Simply click "Adjust Size" in the Tools menu:
Then you can increase the size to meet our minimum requirements.
Please note: If you manually increase the size of your photos, your prints will be lower quality and may appear pixellated or smudgy. We will not be able to reprint them any better.
Ready to print? Here's what we have in the big print department.
• Classic Matte Prints - available in sizes from 2" x 2" to 11" x 14".
• Large Format Prints - available in sizes from 8" x 8" to 30" x 45".
• Metal Prints - available in sizes from 4" x 4" to 30" x 40".
• Wood Prints - available in sizes from 4" x 4" to 30" x 40".
You can see all our print options here.
Feeling nervous? Ask us how good you think your photo will print, by emailing hello@sps.io. We will be frank.
