Image Collage Maker

How to use the image collage maker

1. Choose several images at once.
2. Set the columns, gap and cell size.
3. Download the finished grid.

About this tool

Arranges images into a grid. Columns default to the square root of the count, which gives the most compact arrangement — laying twelve images in one row is technically a grid and useless as one.

Each image fills its cell and is cropped rather than letterboxed. That choice is deliberate: a grid with bands of background around each picture, every one a different shape, reads as a mistake rather than a design. Cropping is taken from the centre, which suits most photographs since the subject usually is.

Every cell is square. That keeps the grid regular whatever mixture of portrait and landscape images goes in, which is the point of a contact sheet.

Images are decoded one at a time and the previous one released before the next, so a selection of thirty photographs does not hold thirty decoded bitmaps in memory simultaneously — a decoded image costs width × height × 4 bytes regardless of its file size, so thirty phone photos would be well over a gigabyte held at once.

Common uses

• Making a contact sheet of a photo session.
• Combining screenshots into one image for a post.
• Producing a before-and-after grid.

Frequently asked questions

Why are my images cropped?

Each fills its cell rather than being letterboxed, because a grid with uneven bands of background around each picture looks like a mistake. Cropping is taken from the centre.

How many images can I combine?

Up to 30. They are decoded one at a time so memory stays near a single image rather than the whole set.

Can I have non-square cells?

Not currently. Square cells keep the grid regular whatever mixture of portrait and landscape images you use.