Why "Fit to Page" is the most common cause of a bad print
When a print dialog offers "Fit to Page," it scales your image to whatever size makes it fill the paper — not the physical size the file was actually built at. A photo prepared as an exact 4×6 inch print can come out as 4.8×7.2 inches, or squeezed to fit a slightly different ratio, depending on the printer driver's guess.
The fix is simple and easy to forget: always print at "Actual Size" or "100%," never "Fit to Page," when the file already has a specific physical size baked into it. Every tool on this site that produces a sized print (A4 layouts, exact-size prints, Polaroid sheets) says this directly next to the download button for exactly this reason.
DPI, and why "300 DPI" actually matters
DPI (dots per inch) tells a printer how many pixels to pack into each inch of paper. A 4×6 inch photo at 300 DPI needs to be 1200×1800 pixels — not because of an arbitrary rule, but because that's the pixel density most consumer and lab printers need to produce a sharp, non-pixelated result at that size.
If your original photo is smaller than that — say, an older phone photo or a screenshot — stretching it up to fill 1200×1800 pixels doesn't add real detail. It just makes existing pixels bigger, which is what "soft" or slightly blurry prints usually are. This is exactly why the Exact-Size Photo Print Maker checks your source resolution and tells you directly if it's below what the target size needs, rather than silently producing a print that looks worse than expected.
How many photos actually fit on one A4 sheet?
This depends on the print size you're using, not just "how many photos I have." A4 paper is 210 × 297 mm. At a common 4×6 inch (about 102 × 152 mm) print size with small margins, two prints fit per A4 sheet — not four, which is a common assumption. Smaller sizes like wallet prints (2.5 × 3.5 in) or Polaroid-style prints fit considerably more per sheet.
Rather than estimating, the A4 Photo Print Layout Maker and the Polaroid/Mini Print Sheet Maker both calculate this automatically from your chosen size and show you the exact count and sheet-count for your batch before you download anything — including telling you upfront if your job needs more than one sheet.
Choosing the right tool for the job
- Printing several photos at a standard size (4×6, 5×7, wallet, etc.) on regular paper — use the A4 Photo Print Layout Maker.
- Need one photo at a very specific, possibly unusual size — in millimetres, centimetres or inches — use the Exact-Size Photo Print Maker.
- Making Polaroid-style keepsakes or small mini prints, possibly with a caption, for gifting or an event — use the Polaroid / Mini Print Sheet Maker.
- Arranging several photos together as one printed page — a grid of 4, 9, or more — use the Print-Ready Photo Collage Maker.
- Making photobooth-style vertical strips (3, 4 or 5 photos per strip) for a party or event — use the Photo Strip Maker.
A note on file formats before you upload
JPG and PNG work reliably in every tool on this site. HEIC — the default format on iPhones — often cannot be read directly by a web browser, since browsers generally don't include a HEIC decoder. If a photo fails to load with no clear reason, this is the most common cause.
To avoid this ahead of time on iPhone: Settings > Camera > Formats > Most Compatible, which saves new photos as JPG instead of HEIC. For photos already saved as HEIC, exporting or sharing them once (for example, via email or a messaging app) usually converts them to JPG in the process.
PNG vs PDF when downloading a multi-sheet job
When a print job needs more than one A4 sheet, downloading as PDF gives you every sheet in one file, in order — the simplest option for printing directly. Downloading as PNG in that situation gives you a ZIP file containing every sheet as its own separate image, which is useful if you specifically need individual image files rather than a document (for example, to send sheets separately, or to use one in another program).
Either way, nothing is left out — a multi-sheet job never silently gives you back fewer photos than you uploaded, regardless of which format you choose.
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