Photo Border Maker
Add a clean border, a gallery mat, rounded corners or a polaroid frame. Set the width and colour, and download the framed image.
Style
A thin line between photo and border, like a gallery mat.
Preview
The preview is scaled down. The download uses the full pixel width you set.
The Three Styles
| Style | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Solid border | Even margin on all four sides | Social posts, print mats, giving a photo breathing room |
| Rounded corners | Border plus rounded outer corners, saved with transparency | Cards, app screenshots, website components |
| Polaroid | Thin top and sides, deep bottom margin | Scrapbook layouts, leaving room to write a caption |
The inner line sits between the photo and the border. A dark hairline against a white mat is what most galleries use, and it stops a light photo bleeding into a light frame.
Rounded corners must be saved as PNG or WebP. JPG cannot hold the transparency, so the corners come back filled with black.
Choosing a Width
Border width should be proportional to the image, not a fixed number you reuse everywhere. A 40 pixel border on a 4000 pixel photo is invisible.
| Image width | Subtle | Noticeable | Gallery mat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 800 px | 8 px | 24 px | 60 px |
| 1080 px | 10 px | 32 px | 80 px |
| 1920 px | 18 px | 58 px | 145 px |
| 4000 px | 40 px | 120 px | 300 px |
The rule behind those numbers: about 1 percent of the width for subtle, 3 percent for noticeable, 7.5 percent for a gallery mat.
Doing It in GIMP
Two routes, depending on whether you want a plain border or something decorative.
Plain border:
- Image > Canvas Size. Untick the chain, add twice your border width to each dimension.
- Press Center, then Resize.
- Image > Flatten Image. The new space fills with your background colour.
Decorative frames: Filters > Decor > Add Border gives a bevelled edge, and Filters > Decor > Fuzzy Border makes a soft ragged edge. Both are Script-Fu, so they apply to pixels and cannot be edited afterwards. Work on a duplicate.
For a whole folder, the Script-Fu generator has a border recipe ready to run.
Common Questions
Why are my rounded corners black?
You exported as JPG. Choose PNG or WebP.
Can I have a different width on each side?
Only through the Polaroid style, which gives a deeper bottom. For anything else, use Canvas Size in GIMP where you control each edge.
Does the border affect print size?
Yes. The image gets physically larger. Recheck the numbers with the DPI and print size calculator before sending it off.