Picture Frame Glass and Acrylic: Which One to Choose

The easiest way to understand glazing is as a ladder. At the bottom is a plain piece of glass or acrylic that protects the artwork and does nothing else. Every rung above that adds one of two things: more UV protection, or less reflection. Price climbs with every rung. Once you can see the ladder, choosing gets simple, because the only real question is how far up it your particular piece needs to go.

Here is the whole range we cut, bottom to top, in both materials.

Glass, bottom to top

1. Premium clear glass. The baseline. The smallest amount of UV protection and the smallest amount of reflection control. It protects the artwork with a piece of glass in front of it. It is not giving you anything beyond that, and for plenty of pieces that is all you need.
2. The second rung, and you pick one. Reflection control glass keeps the minimum UV but gives you slightly less reflection than premium clear. You will still see some reflection in it; it is not reflection free. Conservation clear glass is the other side of the same rung: much higher UV protection than premium clear or reflection control, with no extra reflection reduction. Same tier, same sort of price, different job. Sun and windows point you to conservation clear. Glare points you to reflection control.
3. Conservation reflection control glass. Both at once. The higher UV protection plus the extra reflection control.
4. AR reflection free glass. Anti-reflection glass. This is not a UV step up; reflection is what you are buying. It is almost reflection free, and the manufacturer claims less than one percent reflection, which is not the same as none. Choose it when glare is the problem you are trying to solve. The big price jump in glass starts here.
5. Museum glass. The top of the glass ladder: the highest UV protection and the most reduced reflection possible in glass. Installed properly it is almost as if there is no glazing in front of the artwork at all. It is also the most expensive glass we sell.

Acrylic, same idea with fewer rungs

1. Premium clear acrylic. The base and the cheapest acrylic. Some UV protection, very little reflection control. Its advantage over glass is that it is not fragile, so breakage is not something you have to think about.
2. The second rung, pick one. Reflection control acrylic or conservation clear acrylic, exactly the same trade-off as the glass version. Glare, or UV.
3. Conservation reflection control acrylic. Both combined.
4. Museum acrylic. The highest UV protection and the highest reflection control of anything we sell, and the most expensive glazing option we offer. The jump up to it is a big one.

There is no anti-reflection equivalent in acrylic. AR is a glass-only option, so if near reflection-free is the goal, that decision also settles the material question for you.

The whole range side by side

Glazing	UV protection	Reflection control	Where it sits on price
Premium clear glass	Minimum	Minimum	Lowest-priced glazing we sell
Reflection control glass	Minimum	Some. Less than clear, not reflection free	One step up
Conservation clear glass	Much higher than premium clear	Nothing beyond clear	One step up
Conservation reflection control glass	Much higher	Some	Two steps up
AR reflection free glass	Not a UV step up	Almost reflection free. Maker claims under one percent	The big glass jump starts here
Museum glass	Highest in glass	Most reduced in glass	Most expensive glass
Premium clear acrylic	Some	Very little	Lowest-priced acrylic
Reflection control acrylic	Minimum	Some	One step up
Conservation clear acrylic	Much higher	Nothing beyond clear	One step up
Conservation reflection control acrylic	Much higher	Some	Two steps up. Our usual recommendation
Museum acrylic	Highest of anything we sell	Highest of anything we sell	Most expensive glazing we sell

What we actually recommend

When you call and ask what glazing to use, we are going to ask you about the artwork first: what it is, how important it is to you, and how long you need it to last. The answers sort themselves into a few groups.

A child's artwork, or a photo you do not need forever

Premium clear glass or premium clear acrylic is enough. It is important enough to frame, it is not something that has to survive decades, and the base option protects it and gives you some UV protection. Do not spend up here.

An original, or a limited-edition print

Step up the UV protection. That is the part that protects the piece. Then think about where it is going to hang: direct sun, a very sunny room, close to windows. If the room is bright, reflection matters too, and that is when conservation reflection control earns its money.

High value, signed, or an artist framing their own work

Go to the top of the ladder. We frame a lot of original artwork for artists, and museum glass is very often what they choose, because they want the highest quality available and they want the finished piece to show it. Museum glass, AR glass or museum acrylic all belong in this conversation once the monetary or sentimental value is high.

The middle of the road, which is what most people should buy

If it were going in our own house, conservation reflection control, in glass or acrylic. It is not wildly expensive, and it covers both bases: good reflection control and really good UV protection. It is never going to hurt anything, and it is the answer we give most often.

The reasoning is short. If something is important enough to frame, it is important enough to protect. And reflection control always looks better, because the thing you do not want is to pay for professional framing and then only be able to see the artwork from one particular angle because of the glare.

Glass or acrylic?

Two separate questions decide this: how you are getting it, and where it is going to live.

• Glass costs less but we do not ship it by UPS or FedEx. Glass is local pickup, with one exception: a large order that is going out on a freight pallet anyway can include glass. If a piece truly has to have glass and you cannot pick up, call us. We may be able to fill it, but we cannot guarantee it arrives intact or replace it if it breaks in transit.
• Acrylic is the shipping choice. It arrives with a protective film on both sides that stays on until you install the artwork.
• Acrylic is the safer choice if you move often, if the piece travels from one show to the next, if it is going in a high-traffic spot where it could get knocked off the wall, or if there are kids in the house. It is more durable and less fragile, and things do happen.

What it costs

Every piece is cut to your size, so the price you pay is on the product page once you enter dimensions. What is useful here is the shape of the ladder, not a dollar figure. Take premium clear glass as 1×:

• Premium clear acrylic: a step up from clear glass, roughly a third to a half more at the same size.
• UV-filtering glass or acrylic: about double the base.
• Museum glass: around three times the base.
• Museum acrylic: the top of the ladder, more than museum glass.

So the top of the ladder is several times the bottom of it. Museum glass costs less than museum acrylic, but it is not as durable. The rule holds all the way up: the higher the rung, the higher the cost, and the higher the protection. Enter your size on any glazing product to see the actual number.

Why UV protection matters more than people think

UV is the thing customers underestimate most. It does not take direct sunlight. Any window in the room will do the work over enough time.

The reason it is a hard sell is that you cannot see it happening. Over a couple of months, or even a year, you will not notice a thing. You notice it over years, when the colors have gone quieter and you have nothing to compare the piece against except your memory of it. If you are framing something that is going to hang in your house for years, and you want the colors to hold, UV protection belongs in the decision.

Anti-reflective versus reflection control

These two get confused constantly, and the difference is real.

Reflection control is one step above premium clear. It gives you some control over reflection, and it definitely has less reflection than clear, but it still has reflection. Anti-reflective, which is the AR glass, is much further along: almost reflection free, very limited reflection. Neither one is one hundred percent reflection free, and nobody should promise you that. The order is simply premium clear, then reflection control, then AR.

Cutting, sizes and shipping limits

All of our glazing is cut to size, standard sizes or custom, made to order when you place the order, exactly like our frames. Glass and acrylic both come in much larger sheets than most orders need, so size is usually a shipping question rather than a supply question.

• Glass does not ship by parcel carrier. Local pickup, or on a freight order. That is also why a frame kit built on the website comes with acrylic: if a piece must have real glass, call or email and we will build the kit for pickup at the shop.
• Acrylic up to about 30x40 is the largest we would send standard ground.
• Larger than that we can ship freight.
• Over 30x40, or up to 50 inches, call us at 727-572-4064 and we will walk through sizing, pricing and shipping options.
• Picking up locally opens up much larger sizes than anything we can ship.

What goes wrong when you install it

Have your supplies out before you start: dusting materials, gloves, and a clean flat workspace. That is most of the battle, especially the first time.

• Wear gloves with glass. The cut edges are sharp, and it is fragile.
• Fingerprints. The higher-quality surfaces, reflection control, AR and museum glass, pick up fingerprints very easily. Handle them with gloves so you are not fighting prints and dust at the end.
• There is a correct side. On the higher-quality glass and acrylic, one specific side is meant to face the artwork. Get it backwards and you do not get the protection and reflection reduction you paid for. Ask us and we will tell you which side is which on what you ordered.
• Peel the acrylic film carefully. Acrylic ships with a thin film on both faces, and it has to come off properly. Peeling it can create static that pulls dust in, so a clean surface and a clean room matter right at that moment.

Shop glazing

• All glass and acrylic
• Premium clear glass, reflection control glass, conservation clear glass, conservation reflection control glass, AR reflection free glass, museum glass
• Conservation clear acrylic, reflection control acrylic, conservation reflection control acrylic, museum acrylic. Premium clear acrylic is available too, and we will quote it for you over the phone.

Still deciding? Call 727-572-4064 or send us a note and tell us what you are framing, how important it is, and what the room is like. That is genuinely all we need to point you at the right rung. The FAQ covers the rest of how we work.

Related

• How to install artwork in a frame
• Framing tutorial videos
• Matching a canvas to a floater frame. If you are framing a stretched canvas, there is no glazing involved at all, and depth is the decision instead.