A5, A4 Or A3? A Print Size Guide

Three sizes, and the honest answer to which one you need: probably one bigger than you think.

Almost every print sold online is bought a size too small, because A3 sounds enormous on a screen and looks modest on a wall. Here they are at their true relative sizes.

A5, A4 and A3 print sizes shown at true relative scale with dimensions in centimetres
A5, A4 and A3 at true relative size. A3 is double the area of A4, not a little bigger.

The three sizes

  • A5 — 14.8 × 21 cm. Half a sheet of printer paper. Too small to work alone on a wall, brilliant in a group. This is the size that makes a gallery wall feel considered rather than sparse. From £8.
  • A4 — 21 × 29.7 cm. A sheet of printer paper. The safe middle. Works on a shelf, a desk, a narrow bit of hallway, or in a grid of four or six. From £15.
  • A3 — 29.7 × 42 cm. Two sheets of printer paper side by side. The one that actually reads across a room, and the one to pick if you are only buying one print. From £20.

Each step up is √2 times taller and wider, which means twice the area. A3 is not "a bit bigger" than A4 — it is double it. That is why the jump looks so much larger in real life than it does in a list.

Room by room

Above a sofa

The single most common place a print goes, and the place people most often go too small. Aim for artwork spanning about two-thirds of the sofa. A two-seater at 160 cm wants roughly 105 cm of art; a three-seater at 210 cm wants about 130–140 cm.

One A3 will not do it. You want either three A3s in a row, or a Feature Wall. Bottom edge 15–25 cm above the back of the sofa.

Above a bed

A double is 135 cm wide, a king 150 cm. Two-thirds of that is 90–100 cm — so a pair of A3s side by side, or a six-print wall. Hang it higher than feels right; you are sizing it for the room, not for someone lying down.

A hallway or stairwell

Narrow walls suit vertical runs and small sizes. A5 and A4 work here where A3 would crowd. Follow the angle of the stairs rather than the floor.

A desk, a shelf or a mantelpiece

A4 leaning against the wall is the right call. Big enough to look deliberate, small enough not to dominate the desk. A5 works in pairs.

Kitchens, loos and awkward corners

A5 and A4. These are the rooms where people notice a print because they are standing three feet from it, so the size matters less than the picture. This is where the funnier ones earn their keep.

A big empty wall

Do not fight it with one print. A3 alone on a 3-metre wall looks lost. Either go multiple — see the gallery wall guide — or accept that the wall wants something bigger than we sell.

Mixing sizes

Mixed sizes almost always beat matched ones. A wall of six identical A4s reads as a shop display; one A3 with five smaller prints around it reads as someone with taste who collects things.

The useful bit of maths: A5 is exactly half an A3, linearly. Two A5s stacked are the same height as one A3. Four A5s in a two-by-two block are exactly one A3. That is why those combinations sit together so neatly, and it is what every Feature Wall is built on.

Frames

Every Riot print is a true A size, so it fits a standard off-the-shelf A5, A4 or A3 frame — with one large caveat about centimetre-sized frames that is worth two minutes of your time before you buy one. The framing guide covers it.

The other guides