.. only:: html

    .. note::
        :class: sphx-glr-download-link-note

        Click :ref:`here <sphx_glr_download_gallery_subplots_axes_and_figures_figure_size_units.py>`     to download the full example code
    .. rst-class:: sphx-glr-example-title

    .. _sphx_glr_gallery_subplots_axes_and_figures_figure_size_units.py:


==============================
Figure size in different units
==============================

The native figure size unit in Matplotlib is inches, deriving from print
industry standards. However, users may need to specify their figures in other
units like centimeters or pixels. This example illustrates how to do this
efficiently.


.. code-block:: default



    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    text_kwargs = dict(ha='center', va='center', fontsize=28, color='C1')








Figure size in inches (default)
-------------------------------



.. code-block:: default

    plt.subplots(figsize=(6, 2))
    plt.text(0.5, 0.5, '6 inches x 2 inches', **text_kwargs)
    plt.show()





.. image:: /gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/images/sphx_glr_figure_size_units_001.png
    :alt: figure size units
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img





Figure size in centimeter
-------------------------
Multiplying centimeter-based numbers with a conversion factor from cm to
inches, gives the right numbers. Naming the conversion factor ``cm`` makes
the conversion almost look like appending a unit to the number, which is
nicely readable.



.. code-block:: default

    cm = 1/2.54  # centimeters in inches
    plt.subplots(figsize=(15*cm, 5*cm))
    plt.text(0.5, 0.5, '15cm x 5cm', **text_kwargs)
    plt.show()





.. image:: /gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/images/sphx_glr_figure_size_units_002.png
    :alt: figure size units
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img





Figure size in pixel
--------------------
Similarly, one can use a conversion from pixels.

Note that you could break this if you use `~.pyplot.savefig` with a
different explicit dpi value.



.. code-block:: default

    px = 1/plt.rcParams['figure.dpi']  # pixel in inches
    plt.subplots(figsize=(600*px, 200*px))
    plt.text(0.5, 0.5, '600px x 200px', **text_kwargs)
    plt.show()




.. image:: /gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/images/sphx_glr_figure_size_units_003.png
    :alt: figure size units
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img





Quick interactive work is usually rendered to the screen, making pixels a
good size of unit. But defining the conversion factor may feel a little
tedious for quick iterations.

Because of the default ``rcParams['figure.dpi'] = 100``, one can mentally
divide the needed pixel value by 100 [*]_:



.. code-block:: default

    plt.subplots(figsize=(6, 2))
    plt.text(0.5, 0.5, '600px x 200px', **text_kwargs)
    plt.show()




.. image:: /gallery/subplots_axes_and_figures/images/sphx_glr_figure_size_units_004.png
    :alt: figure size units
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img





.. [*] Unfortunately, this does not work well for the ``matplotlib inline``
       backend in jupyter because that backend uses a different default of
       ``rcParams['figure.dpi'] = 72``. Additionally, it saves the figure
       with ``bbox_inches='tight'``, which crops the figure and makes the
       actual size unpredictable.

------------

References
""""""""""

The use of the following functions and methods is shown in this example:


.. code-block:: default


    import matplotlib

    matplotlib.pyplot.figure
    matplotlib.pyplot.subplots
    matplotlib.pyplot.subplot_mosaic




.. rst-class:: sphx-glr-script-out

 Out:

 .. code-block:: none


    <function subplot_mosaic at 0x7f5f32b6f3a0>




.. _sphx_glr_download_gallery_subplots_axes_and_figures_figure_size_units.py:


.. only :: html

 .. container:: sphx-glr-footer
    :class: sphx-glr-footer-example



  .. container:: sphx-glr-download sphx-glr-download-python

     :download:`Download Python source code: figure_size_units.py <figure_size_units.py>`



  .. container:: sphx-glr-download sphx-glr-download-jupyter

     :download:`Download Jupyter notebook: figure_size_units.ipynb <figure_size_units.ipynb>`


.. only:: html

 .. rst-class:: sphx-glr-signature

    Keywords: matplotlib code example, codex, python plot, pyplot
    `Gallery generated by Sphinx-Gallery
    <https://sphinx-gallery.readthedocs.io>`_