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About this tool
Maximum print width and height for each t-shirt size from garment measurements and platen limits, with placement offsets and pixel sizes.
The printable area on a t-shirt is the smaller of two limits: the garment, whose usable width is the flat chest measurement minus a seam clearance on each side and whose usable height is body length minus the collar drop and hem clearance, and the press platen, which caps everything at sizes like 14 x 16 or 16 x 20 inches. This calculator works out both for every size in a run, fits your artwork ratio inside without distortion, and converts the result to the pixel dimensions you need at 300 DPI. Written for print-on-demand sellers and anyone preparing artwork for a decorator.
Open T Shirt Print Area Calculator on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
Small sizes are usually limited by the garment, not the press, which is where size runs go wrong.
Artwork is fitted inside the area rather than stretched, so nothing distorts.
Inches multiplied by DPI, plus an effective-DPI check on the file you already have.
On a standard adult platen it is 14 x 16 inches, with oversize platens reaching 16 x 20. On smaller garments the shirt itself is the limit: a Youth S with 16 inches of flat chest width leaves only about 14 inches of printable width once you keep an inch clear of each side seam.
Around 3 inches below the collar seam for adult sizes and about 2 inches for youth is the common decorator convention. Going lower gives a more modern, dropped look; going higher risks the design disappearing under a collar or jacket.
Export at 300 DPI at the final printed size. A design printed 12.8 inches wide therefore needs 3,840 pixels of width. Below roughly 150 DPI the print visibly softens, so treat that as the floor rather than the target.
You can, but the smallest size sets the ceiling. Many sellers export two or three files — a full-size version for adult M and above and a scaled version for youth and small sizes — so large shirts do not end up with a print that looks lost on the chest.
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