Poster Size Guide: Every Size in cm and Inches, and Which One Your Wall Actually Needs

If you only remember one number, remember 50×70 cm (19.7×27.6 in, €45). It suits more walls than any other format we print: big enough to hold a room on its own, and a stock frame size across most of northern Europe. Above a three-seater sofa of 200-220 cm you need roughly 140-160 cm of art width, which means two or three prints, never one. For a gallery wall, build from A3 (29.7×42 cm, €25) and A4 (21×29.7 cm, €19).

Below is every size we print, what it converts to, what it costs, and the part most guides skip: which sizes share a shape, and which only look as though they do.

Every size we print, in centimetres, inches and euros

Three shape families run through that table, and knowing which is which saves you money on frames:

• 1:1.414, the A-series — A4, A3, A2, A1. Each size is exactly half the one above it.
• 4:5 — 40×50 cm, 16×20 in, 8×10 in. Interchangeable in proportion, not in millimetres.
• 2:3 — 12×18, 16×24 and 24×36 in. The photographic and film-poster shape.

Only the A-series halves cleanly, because it was engineered to. Walter Porstmann standardised it as DIN 476 in Germany in 1922, using the √2 ratio Georg Lichtenberg had described in a letter to Johann Beckmann in October 1786; the standard became ISO 216 in 1975. A0 is one square metre of paper at that ratio — 841×1189 mm — and every size beneath it is a fold.

A2 and 50×70 cm are not the same poster

They are close enough to look identical in a listing and different enough to ruin a frame purchase. A2 is 42×59.4 cm. 50×70 cm is 8 cm wider and 10.6 cm taller. In area that is 2,495 cm² against 3,500 cm² — the 50×70 is 40% more paper.

The ratios differ too: A2 is 1:1.414, 50×70 is exactly 1:1.4. A small gap, but it means a mount cut for one will never centre correctly on the other.

A 50×70 print will not go into an A2 frame at all. An A2 print dropped into a 50×70 frame floats with an 8 cm gap on one axis and 10.6 cm on the other — visibly lopsided, and no amount of tape fixes it.

The practical rule: buy the frame after you buy the print, and match the number exactly. If you already own 50×70 frames — the default in Nordic and German retail framing — order 50×70. If you own A2 frames, order A2. The correct way to put an A2 inside a 50×70 frame is with a cut mount whose window measures 42×59.4 cm, not by hoping.

The same trap sits inside the imperial column. 16×20 in (40.6×50.8 cm) and 40×50 cm are both 4:5, and they sit 6 mm and 8 mm apart. That is enough to jam a frame back or crush a corner.

Two-thirds of the furniture: the sizing rule that survives contact

Art hung above a piece of furniture should measure about two-thirds of that furniture's width — anywhere from 60% to 75% reads as deliberate. Below 50% the piece looks like an afterthought floating on plaster.

Worked examples:

1. Sofa 210 cm → 140-160 cm of art. Three 50×70 prints portrait with 5 cm gaps = 160 cm. Or two A1 portrait with a 6 cm gap = 124.8 cm, which is the honest lower limit.
2. Loveseat 160 cm → 105-120 cm. Two 50×70 portrait with a 5 cm gap = 105 cm. Near-perfect.
3. Sideboard 120 cm → 80-90 cm. One A1 portrait (59.4 cm wide) is too narrow; one 24×36 in hung landscape (91.4 cm) lands it.
4. Double bed 140 cm → 90-100 cm. Two 40×50 with a 6 cm gap = 86 cm, or one 24×36 in landscape at 91.4 cm.

Here is where we disagree with most size guides: above a full-length sofa, no single poster we sell is big enough. Our largest, 24×36 in, is 91.4 cm on its long edge — 44% of a 210 cm sofa. Anyone telling you that one 50×70 "works over a sofa" is selling you a print that will look stranded. Buy the set. Two identical formats read as intentional; three read as curated.

Treat a group as one rectangle. Measure from the outer edge of the left frame to the outer edge of the right, apply the two-thirds rule to that total, and keep every gap identical — 5 cm for prints up to A3, 6-8 cm for A2 and above.

Hanging height: 145 cm, and when to ignore it

Hang so the centre of the artwork sits 145-152 cm above the floor. Museums commonly work to 145 cm — the "57 inches on centre" convention, since 57 in is 144.8 cm — while commercial galleries lean towards 150-152 cm. Both are compromises around average standing eye level, and either is defensible. Pick one and use it throughout a flat so the rooms read as a set.

Above a sofa or headboard, the floor measurement gives way to a clearance measurement: the bottom edge of the frame goes 20-25 cm above the sofa back. Higher than 30 cm and the print detaches from the furniture; lower than 15 cm and heads knock it crooked.

The arithmetic agrees with itself. A 50×70 portrait above a sofa with an 85 cm back height sits with its bottom edge at 105-110 cm, putting its centre at 140-145 cm. When both rules land in the same place, you have it right.

Viewing distance follows the diagonal. An A2 measures 72.7 cm corner to corner, so it wants to be seen from roughly 110-145 cm — about 1.5 to 2 times its diagonal. That single figure explains most of the room advice below.

Room by room, with the numbers

Above the sofa. Two or three 50×70, or a 24×36 in as the anchor of an asymmetric group. Bold, high-contrast work carries the distance, which is where street art prints and Bauhaus geometry earn their keep.

Headboard. One 24×36 in landscape over a double, or two 40×50 over a single. Bottom edge 15-25 cm above the headboard.

Hallway. You will never stand more than a metre back, so A1 is wasted there — you cannot take it in whole. Use A3 or 30×40 in a run, every centre on one line at 145 cm, gaps at 8 cm. A corridor is the best place in a home for a sequence of related images, which is why typographic prints work so well along one.

Desk or study. You are seated, so eye level drops to roughly 115-120 cm. Hang the bottom edge 15-20 cm above the top of your monitor. A3 or 11×14 in is the right weight; anything larger competes with the screen.

Bathroom. 8×10 in (€19) or A4, framed behind glazing, and never on the wall inside the shower splash zone. Steam at a metre's distance is survivable; direct water is not.

Staircase. Follow the pitch. Measure 145-152 cm vertically from the nose of the tread directly beneath each frame, so the row climbs parallel to the handrail. Keep one size throughout — 30×40 or A3. Mixed sizes on a stair read as a mistake rather than a rhythm.

Kitchen. A4 and A3, at least 60-80 cm from the hob so airborne grease stays off the glass. Small formats also survive being shuffled when appliances move.

Made to order, so measure first

Every print is produced after you order it, at the facility nearest you: 2-4 working days in production, then 3-10 days in transit, tracked, rolled in a rigid tube (small formats ship flat). Shipping is free to the United States, €5 to the EU and the UK, and €9 to the rest of the world.

That production model has one consequence worth stating plainly, because it changes how carefully you should measure. We cannot accept a return because you ordered the wrong size — nothing exists to restock. If a print arrives damaged, that is a different matter: send a photo within 14 days and we replace it free. The full terms are on the shipping page.

So spend the five minutes. Mark the outline on the wall in low-tack tape before you order, stand where you will actually stand, and check the width against the two-thirds rule.

If you order one size, order this

Order 50×70 cm at €45. It clears the two-thirds threshold above most sideboards and beds, it drops into off-the-shelf frames across Europe, and its 86 cm diagonal sets a comfortable viewing distance of about 1.3-1.7 m — roughly the gap between a sofa and the wall it faces.

The error to avoid is underscaling, and it is worth understanding why it happens: a poster looks generous flat on a table and modest on a wall, because the wall supplies the comparison. Judge the size against the furniture, never against your hands.

If the budget is tight or the wall is genuinely small — under 120 cm of clear width — order A2 at €35 and check your frames first. If you are testing a design before committing, A4 at €19 is a cheap way to see how a piece lives in your light before scaling up. Every one of our 196 designs is prepared at full resolution for the largest format, so ordering 24×36 in costs you nothing in sharpness: all sizes print on the same 250 gsm matte museum paper with archival pigment inks through a 12-colour giclée process.

Frames are not included, and every size above is a standard retail size somewhere — the A-series across Europe, 30×40 and 50×70 across Scandinavia, the inch sizes across North America. Order the print, then order a frame with the identical number on the box. All 196 designs are in the shop.

Written by The VORAROSA atelier — VORAROSA is an independent poster atelier. We design and curate 196 original art prints and produce each one on demand on 250gsm museum-quality matte paper.