New Makerfern for Chrome: right-click any picture on the web to make a cut file, coloring page or stencil from it. Add to Chrome, free

Print a large picture on multiple pages, free

Split any picture across as many sheets of Letter, A4 or A3 as you need, with overlap and cut lines, and download one PDF to print at home. Free, no signup, and the picture never leaves your computer.

Faster with the free Chrome extension: right-click any picture on a website and send it straight to the poster splitter. Add to Chrome · what it does

A poster from your own printer

Choose how wide (or tall) the finished poster should be, or simply how many sheets across. The tool works out how many sheets that takes, turns the paper to whichever way uses fewer of them, and shows the grid over your picture before you print anything. The PDF starts with a map of how the sheets fit, then one sheet per page, each labelled like a map (A1, A2, B1…).

What it's used for

  • Wall posters and banners for a party, a classroom or a shop window.
  • Mural and sign outlines to trace onto a wall or a board.
  • Large stencils and full-size templates for woodwork or cosplay.
  • Life-size cutouts glued to foam board.

Getting the size right

  1. Print at 100% or "actual size". "Fit to page" shrinks every sheet and the poster won't line up.
  2. Leave the printer margin at 0.25 in unless your printer is borderless.
  3. Trim only the dashed edges, and tape on the back so the front stays clean.

Questions

How do I print a big picture on several sheets of paper?

Drop the picture in, set the finished width (or height, or how many sheets across), and download the PDF. Print it at 100% ("actual size"), trim the dashed edge on each sheet, and tape the sheets together in the order of the map on the first page: A1 is the top left, A2 the one to its right, B1 the start of the second row.

Why is there an overlap?

Home printers can't print the last few millimetres of a sheet, and they don't all place the picture in exactly the same spot. Each sheet repeats a strip of its neighbour, so you trim one edge along the dashed line and lay it over the next sheet, and the picture carries on without a white gap even if the printer is a little off.

How big can the poster be?

As big as you have paper and patience for. The tool tells you how many pixels per inch the picture works out at: above about 100 it looks sharp up close; 50 to 100 is fine on a wall seen from a few steps away; below 50 it looks blocky. It never prints finer than 200 per inch, because a wall poster gains nothing from more.

Is it the same as the Rasterbator?

It does the tiling part: a picture across many sheets, at a size you choose. It prints the picture itself rather than turning it into dots. For the dotted halftone look, run the picture through the halftone generator first and split the result here.

Can I use it for a stencil, a mural or a sewing pattern?

Yes. A large stencil, a mural outline from the coloring page maker, or a pattern drawn at full size all print the same way. For patterns, check the 1 inch on the ruler first: the size is only right when the printer is set to 100%.

Is my picture uploaded?

No. The picture is cut into sheets and written into the PDF by this page, on your computer.