The aspect ratio of an image identifies the height and width ratio. In analogue photography images are usually created in the aspect ratio 3:2.	Digital cameras usually use an aspect ratio of 4:3 and not the classical format of 3:2.
The longer side is here 1,5 times longer than the shorter side. This will provide a print size of (for instance) 10x15cm (10cm multiplied with 1,5 equals 15cm) or 6"x4".	4 divided by 3 equals 1,33. For most digital photos the longer side is only 1,33 times longer than the shorter side. This will provide a print size of (for instance) 10x13.3cm or 5.3"x4".

If you now try to print this shorter format on paper with a pre-set size of for instance 10x15cm, you have following options:

Your full image is printed, but with white borders on both sides:

We take the height of your file and convert this to 10cm. Since the longer side is only 1,33 times longer, the width of your print will only be 13,3cm. White borders will occur on both sides to fill up the width of 15cm.

The format is filled completely with your image, but parts will be lost:

We take the width of your image and convert this to 15cm. With an aspect ratio of 3:4 the shorter side of your print will be 0,75 or 3/4 of the longer side. Unfortunately the standard paper format is not big enough for this. Therefore you will lose parts of your image. With a width of 15cm you would get a height of 11,25cm. (15 multiplied by 0,75 equals 11,25).  Since the photo paper is only 10cm in height, you will lose approx. 1,25cm or 2x 0,6cm of your image.

Therefore Pixum offers flexible print lengths without loss of your image:

Pixum always starts with the shorter side of your image. This means that the shorter side will always, for instance when you selected 10cm format, be 10cm in height. The length of your image is variable and depends on the aspect ratio of your original file. With an aspect ratio of 4:3 this would be approx. 13,3cm. Maybe our image size calculator can help you with your next order. Here you can enter the number of pixels for your image. With just one click you will find out what size your printed photos will be. To get the classic 10x15cm format, your files need to have an aspect ratio of 3:2.

If you would like to change the print size of your image for your order, please make sure the files have the necessary aspect ratio before uploading them to Pixum.

Some digital cameras offer various settings for your aspect ratio. Please check if your camera offers the 3:2 aspect ratio.

To change the aspect ratio of the photo files on your computer, you can use the following free software program:

Irfanview

Please note:

• Inspite of the flexible image length, every format has a maximum length. Please pay extra attention to the product description in our shop for files with a bigger aspect ratio than 3:2 (for instance panoramic images).
• Larger poster formats are printed in fixed sized photo paper, therefore have a fixed aspect ratio. If your file has a different aspect ratio, the image is cut to fit the poster size. Therefore please pay careful attention to the preview in our shop, which will show you the final image size.
• During production small manufacturing tolerances of up to 5mm can occur. Unfortunately we cannot avoid these completely and these should be taken into account when selecting your images. Therefore we advise to not create any frames around your images, and to not place texts or important parts of your image near the border.
• The cm-indications for the photo sizes are, in digital as well as in analogue photography, rouded numbers. More information about that can be found here.

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