Improve subplot size/spacing with many subplots in matplotlib

Very similar to this question but with the difference that my figure can be as large as it needs to be.

I need to generate a whole bunch of vertically-stacked plots in matplotlib. The result will be saved using figsave and viewed on a webpage, so I don't care how tall the final image is as long as the subplots are spaced so they don't overlap.

No matter how big I allow the figure to be, the subplots always seem to overlap.

My code currently looks like

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import my_other_module

titles, x_lists, y_lists = my_other_module.get_data()

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10,60))
for i, y_list in enumerate(y_lists):
    plt.subplot(len(titles), 1, i)
    plt.xlabel("Some X label")
    plt.ylabel("Some Y label")
    plt.title(titles[i])
    plt.plot(x_lists[i],y_list)
fig.savefig('out.png', dpi=100)

Solution 1:

Try using plt.tight_layout

As a quick example:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig, axes = plt.subplots(nrows=4, ncols=4)
fig.tight_layout() # Or equivalently,  "plt.tight_layout()"

plt.show()

Without Tight Layout

With Tight Layout

Solution 2:

You can use plt.subplots_adjust to change the spacing between the subplots (source)

call signature:

subplots_adjust(left=None, bottom=None, right=None, top=None, wspace=None, hspace=None)

The parameter meanings (and suggested defaults) are:

left  = 0.125  # the left side of the subplots of the figure
right = 0.9    # the right side of the subplots of the figure
bottom = 0.1   # the bottom of the subplots of the figure
top = 0.9      # the top of the subplots of the figure
wspace = 0.2   # the amount of width reserved for blank space between subplots
hspace = 0.2   # the amount of height reserved for white space between subplots

The actual defaults are controlled by the rc file