Split an Image into a Grid

Three reasons people split an image

1. An Instagram profile grid

One big picture spread across 3, 6 or 9 posts so it reads as a single image on your profile. The catch is order: Instagram puts your newest post at the top left, so the bottom-right piece has to go up first. With "Instagram posting order" the files are numbered the way you post them — post-01 first, post-09 last — and each name also carries its row and column in case you need to check. Instagram's profile grid now crops thumbnails to 3:4, so the 3:4 tile shape makes the pieces line up; pick Square for the older look.

2. A seamless carousel

A panorama cut into side-by-side slides, so swiping through the carousel feels like panning across one scene. Carousel slides can be up to 4:5 (portrait), which gives each slide the most screen space; the tool trims the top and bottom of the panorama to make the slides exactly that shape.

3. Printing a poster on ordinary paper

Split a large image into, say, 3 × 4 tiles, print each tile on its own sheet at the same scale and tape them together. Keep the shape as "Keep picture's shape" so nothing is trimmed, and save as PNG so there is no compression on the printed pieces. Check the resolution first with the DPI and print size calculator: every tile needs enough pixels for the sheet it is printed on.

Tips for a grid that looks good

• Keep faces and text away from the cut lines — they are where the eye notices a seam.
• Start from the largest original you have: a 3 × 3 grid gives each tile a third of the width.
• Post the whole set in one sitting, otherwise the grid is broken until the last piece is up.

Want the opposite — several pictures joined into one? Use merge images. To fit a single photo into Instagram's shapes without cropping, use the Instagram resizer.