Etsy Printable Wall Art: Sizes, Ratios and Resolution

Printable wall art is one of the most popular digital downloads on Etsy, and also one of the most complained about. Most bad reviews come from buyers printing a file at a size it wasn’t made for, or from files that are too small. Here is how to cover every common frame size with five files and keep each one sharp.

Why you sell ratios, not sizes

Frames come in dozens of sizes, but most of them share just a few shapes, called aspect ratios. A 4 × 6 print and a 24 × 36 poster are the same shape (2:3), so one high-resolution 2:3 file can be printed at either size. That is why most sellers include one file per ratio instead of one file per size.

The five files to include

Export each ratio at the largest size it covers, at 300 PPI. Buyers can then print any smaller size in that ratio.

The ISO A sizes are what most buyers outside North America use for frames. Including them avoids awkward cropping for European, UK and Australian customers.

Staying under the 20MB limit

A 7200 × 10800 file is almost 78 megapixels, and large files can go over 20MB. Some ways to keep them under:

• Use JPEG for photos and painted art. PNG is lossless and often several times bigger for this kind of image. A JPEG quality setting of around 80–90% usually looks the same as the original in print.
• Use PNG only for flat graphics such as simple typography or line art, where it can be smaller and sharper than JPEG.
• Remove hidden extras. Strip layers, embedded thumbnails and large metadata when exporting (look for “Export” or “Save for web” options).
• Lower the PPI for the largest sizes. A 24 × 36 poster hangs on a wall and is seen from a distance. 200–240 PPI (4800 × 7200 to 5760 × 8640 px) still looks sharp and makes a much smaller file. Why viewing distance matters.

Colour and file settings

• Use the sRGB colour profile. Home printers, photo kiosks and most online print services expect sRGB. Files in other profiles can print dull or with odd colours.
• Set the file’s resolution to 300. It doesn’t change quality (see DPI vs PPI), but some printing software uses it to pick a default size, so it saves buyers confusion.
• Leave a safe margin. Keep important detail a little away from the edges, as frames and print trimming can cover a few millimetres.

Tell buyers which file to use

Many complaints come from buyers printing the 2:3 file in an 8 × 10 frame and losing part of the design. Add a short “which file do I print?” list to your listing and include it as a PDF or image in the download. The table above works well for this.

Check each file before you upload

Run each export through the PrintCheck checker at its largest size, for example 24 × 36 inches for the 2:3 file. If it passes at 300 DPI, or at your chosen lower PPI for the big sizes, every smaller size in that ratio will pass too.

If you generate art with AI tools, the original image is usually far too small for a 24 × 36 print and needs upscaling first. See Can AI upscaling fix a low-resolution image for print?

Order a test print

Screens can hide problems that show on paper, such as banding in gradients, colours that print darker than expected, or soft details. Ordering one test print of each design is worth it before you list.