How many pieces a brick mosaic takes
Everyone answers this with one number: studs equals pieces. That is only true if every plate is a 1×1. Real mosaics merge runs of the same colour into larger plates, and how much they merge depends entirely on the picture.
Measured across the 34 mosaics in our gallery, a mosaic uses between 0.17 and 0.89 pieces per stud, averaging 0.54 . That is a five-fold spread between the smoothest image and the busiest one — at the same size.
| Size | Studs | Fewest plates | Typical | Most |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 × 32 | 1 024 | 176 | 551 | 908 |
| 48 × 48 | 2 304 | 395 | 1 240 | 2 044 |
| 64 × 64 | 4 096 | 702 | 2 204 | 3 634 |
| 96 × 96 | 9 216 | 1 581 | 4 959 | 8 176 |
| 128 × 128 | 16 384 | 2 810 | 8 816 | 14 535 |
Which end of the range you land on
Fewest plates: posters, flat colour, big skies, graphic images. Long runs of one colour become 2×4s and 1×8s, and the count drops fast.
Most plates: faces, fur, foliage, anything where the colour changes every stud. Portraits sit near the top of the range, which is also why they need the larger sizes to look right.
The number that matters for your photo is the one your own mosaic reports — the generator counts the exact plates, by colour, before you pay anything.