When you select a passepartout (also called a mat or border), it is important to know that the artwork inside will be one size smaller than the size you selected.

The size you choose always refers to the outer measurements of the frame and passepartout, not to the print itself.

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If you order a 50x70 cm frame with passepartout, the frame and passepartout will measure 50x70 cm, but the print will be 40x50 cm.

This is because the passepartout creates a visual border around the artwork, and the print must be smaller to fit inside it properly.

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The border is not the same width on every side. It is whatever is left over once the smaller print sits centred inside the size you ordered, so a portrait size normally has a wider border at the top and bottom than at the sides.

Here are the actual measurements for the most common sizes:

The border width cannot be changed. It follows from the size you order, so there is no setting for a thinner or wider mat.

If you want a narrow border, for example one centimetre of white around your artwork, do not use the passepartout option. Add that border to your artwork file yourself in your image editor, and order the print without a passepartout. You then control the width exactly.

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You choose the colour of the passepartout when you set up your product. Eleven colours are available: white, black, grey, Freja (a warm off-white), red, orange, yellow, green, teal, light blue and lilac.

Selecting "No border" means the print fills the frame with no mat at all.

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Passepartout is available on fine art paper prints only. Canvas prints are stretched over a wooden frame, so there is nowhere for a mat to sit.

It cannot be offered on Etsy listings, because Etsy allows only two options per listing and those are already used by size and frame. See "Why passepartout aren't available on Etsy listings".

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You can order a passepartout on an unframed fine art paper print. It works differently from the framed version: the border is printed into the print file instead of being a separate piece of cardboard.

A real passepartout is a cut sheet of cardboard that sits inside the frame and holds the print in place. On its own it cannot be shipped safely or mounted by the customer, so we can only supply a physical passepartout when a frame is included.

When you order a passepartout without a frame, you receive:

The visible artwork is the same size it would be behind a physical passepartout, and the border has the same width and colour. The only difference is that the border is part of the print rather than a separate piece of cardboard that can be lifted off.

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Here's how artwork sizes adjust when using passepartout:

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In some cases, the passepartout can cause small parts of your artwork to be cropped. This happens because the print inside the passepartout does not always have the same shape as the outer size, so your artwork has to be recropped to fit it.

For example, a 40x50 cm size with passepartout fits a 30x40 cm print inside. The outer size has a 5:4 shape and the print inside has a 4:3 shape, so the artwork is cropped a little differently than it would be at 40x50 cm without a mat.

Two groups of sizes avoid this completely, because the print inside has exactly the same shape as the size you ordered:

Tip: if you want to avoid recropping altogether, choose an A size or a square size when using a passepartout.

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If you're unsure which file size to upload for your chosen size and passepartout combination, feel free to reach out via our contact form, we're happy to help!