How to Merge Photos in MS Paint & Paint 3D

Merging photos is a very demanded feature that every graphics editor must have no matter whether it is a Windows 10 desktop image editor or an online web-based application. Since its birth Microsoft Paint allows you to merge two photos, combine several images into a pics collage like on the picture above, insert a picture into a picture, join two screenshots, put together two images for side by side “before and after” pics, and even unite multiple pictures into one panorama. The merge feature is especially useful for those who want to organize photos taken in a small image gallery or to add an object with a similar background.

We’ll observe how to combine photos in MS Paint and Paint 3D. It is convenient to make edits with these programs because they are inbuilt in the Windows system of all versions XP, Vista, Windows 8, 10 and 11. Thus you don’t have to surf the Internet looking for a suitable picture editing application. Moreover, it is freeware and works offline.

5 Tricks of Merging Photos in Microsoft Paint You Must Know in Advance

But before we jump right to merging files in MS app, I’d like to draw your attention to several MS features and peculiarities that might cause frustration among users:

Open several instances of the application on your computer. Yes, that’s true. You can open the software many times in different windows. You can open each picture in its own window. And each instance will work with a pic you add. See below an example of 3 windows of the program.
Copy an image in one of windows & paste in another Paint window. Microsoft OS allows you to copy a file from one instance and paste it into another windeow. Like on my screenshot above, I can copy the building from the second window and paste the building into the first picture with the girl and alpaca.
Resize (crop, rotate, change pixels size) each pic in its own window before merging into the united picture. As you know unlike GIMP, PhotoScape X or Adobe PhotoShop, the program doesn’t have layers. So when you merge 2 pics, you work only with one layer. That’s why you can’t actually do a lot of editing when two pics occur on one background. So please prepare each picture in its own instance before merging.
There’s no way to make smooth transition between 2 images where they join. So unlike PhotoScape which lets you overlay two photos smoothly, so colors get blended together, the application doesn’t make a transparent transition between two pictures. You can play a bit with a background color fill or brushes if you leave a tiny space between two pictures to make a milder move from one picture to another. But still you will see edges of each image.
You can merge photos with various file extension. No need to convert image formats! Do you want to merge 2 JPEGs? Go ahead, you can do it! Do you want to merge JPEG and WebP files? Sure, you can do it. Do you want to merge PNG and JPG images? Yes, you can! Do you want to insert BMP into TIFF? Why not? Do it! Open each image in its own window and connect two pictures as described below. You will have a choice which format to choose for final merged picture.

Here’s How to Merge Two Images with MS Paint:

Open your two images in two instances of the program. There are 2 ways how you can open an image. For example, you can launch the app on your PC, then click File > Open > select your first picture. Or there’s the second way. Find your image, right-click on it with your mouse and from the context menu choose the Edit option, so the image gets automatically opened in the Redmond editor (if it’s your default image editor). Do the same things with your second image. Open your second image in its own window.
Prepare the right canva (background) where you’ll put together two photos. So start the third instance of tool. Pull the bottom-right corner and drag the mouse down and to the right to make the working area larger. Or set the proper canva (or background in other words) size using the Resize option and indicating required height and width. In this case, you will have enough space for placing a second image on the background. By default, it’s blank white untitled background. But you can change the background color, if you wish. To do it, click the Color option and pick any color.
Edit and resize each image before joining. As you learned from the tricks, now it’s time to change images sizes, so pictures look similar on the final image. Click the Resize button. Adjust width and height or cut pictures, flip pictures, erase unwanted objects with rubber tool, etc.
Copy first image. Go to the first instance, press CTRL+A and then press CTRL+C to copy the first image. Or use the second copy way: click the Select tab > Select all and then the Copy option from the Home tab.
Paste the first image onto the canva. In the final instance, press CTRL +V or the Paste option from the Home tab. Use your mouse and drag and drop feature to position your first picture as you want.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the second photo in the similar manner.
Use drag and drop to place the second image on the canva. The second image may hide the first image. It might look like that there is nothing beneath it. Don’t be afraid the first picture hasn’t disappeared, but it is covered with the layer of the second one. Click on the second image and drag it holding the mouse tightly to the desired position. Pictures can be aligned horizontally or vertically, next to each other, or on the top of each other.
Save the resulting merged image. Click the File > Save As > JPEG/PNG/BMP option.

As alternative way to join pics, watch video tutorial & learn how to use the Paste From option in MS Paint:

If you are still at a loss how to merge pics, you are welcome to the comments below. We are ready to answer all your questions.

Paint 3D merges two pictures in a similar manner as classic application. Though Paint 3D enables you to work with 3D models, we’ll talk about usual pictures, not 3D objects.

Here’s How to Merge Two Images in MS Paint 3D:

Start Paint 3D on a laptop or PC and click the New option to get the black canva for merged photos.
Stretch background, so you can put two pictures together on the canva. You can use your mouse and pull using canva corners. Or use another method and set desired canva size using the Canva menu.
Go to Menu> Insert button and select the first photo to place on the canva, then repeat again Menu > Insert button to lay the second image over the first one or next to it.
Save the merged pictures. Go to Menu > Save As > Image and save your picture as JPG, PNG, BMP or other formats.