How to put two photos side by side

Updated 15 June 2026

Placing two photos side by side is one of the most common image tasks there is — comparing two outfits, showing a left-and-right pair, or building a simple two-panel graphic for social media. You don't need Photoshop or a phone app to do it. This guide shows you how to combine two pictures into a single horizontal image in under a minute, with everything happening privately in your browser.

The quick version

1. Open StitchPic — it loads with two upload boxes.
2. Click the first box and choose your left-hand photo; click the second and choose the right-hand one.
3. Leave the direction set to Horizontally.
4. Choose how to match the heights (see below).
5. Press Merge!, then Download PNG.

Choosing how the two photos line up

When you place images side by side, the only thing that usually looks wrong is a height mismatch — one photo taller than the other leaves an awkward strip of empty space. StitchPic gives you four ways to handle this under Resize images:

• Do not adjust — keeps both photos at their original size. The shorter one is centred vertically, with your chosen background colour filling the gap. Good when the two images are already the same height.
• Magnify smallest — scales the shorter photo up so both match the taller one. Best when you want to fill the frame with no empty space.
• Reduce biggest — scales the taller photo down to match the shorter one. This keeps the smaller image at full quality and only shrinks the larger one.
• Crop biggest — trims the taller photo from top and bottom instead of scaling it, so nothing is distorted. Useful when the subjects are centred.

For most side-by-side comparisons, Reduce biggest with Keep aspect ratio turned on gives a clean result without stretching anyone's face.

Adding a gap between the two photos

A thin border between images makes a two-panel layout look deliberate rather than accidental. Set the spacing value (in pixels) to add a gap, and pick a background colour for it — white reads cleanly on most platforms, while a colour pulled from your photos can tie the panels together. Try 10–20 px for a subtle seam, or 40 px+ for a bold divider.

Which photo goes on the left?

Order matters for comparisons. Convention is “before” on the left and “after” on the right, because most people read left-to-right and expect the progression to move that way. If you load them in the wrong order, use the up/down arrows on each image card to swap them — no need to re-upload.

Common questions

Will the photos lose quality?

No. StitchPic draws your images onto an HTML5 canvas at full resolution and exports a lossless PNG, so the result is as sharp as your originals. The only time pixels change is if you choose to magnify a small image, which enlarges it.

Can I do this on my phone?

Yes. The tool works in mobile browsers — tap each box to pick a photo from your camera roll, then download the merged image straight to your device.

Are my photos uploaded anywhere?

Never. All processing happens locally in your browser, so your images stay on your device.