Glass is the default and it is the right default. Acrylic is the answer to specific problems, and when you have one of those problems it is not a close call.
The four reasons to choose acrylic
1. Weight
Acrylic is roughly half the weight of glass for the same size. On a small frame this is irrelevant. On a large one it changes what hardware you need, what the wall has to carry, and whether one person can hang it. Past about a metre on the long side, weight starts making the decision on its own.
2. It does not shatter
Glass breaks into edges. If a large framed piece comes off a wall, glass is genuinely dangerous, and it can slice the artwork on the way down. Acrylic cracks rather than shatters. Anywhere with children, in a hallway, above a bed, above a sofa, or anywhere in a public or commercial space, this is the deciding factor.
3. Shipping
Glass in transit is a liability. We glaze anything travelling any distance with acrylic as a matter of course, because a broken sheet does not just mean a replacement pane, it means broken glass moving around inside a sealed package with the artwork.
4. Very large sizes
Beyond a certain span glass has to get thicker to stay rigid, which makes it heavier, which makes everything worse. Acrylic scales better.
The reasons to stay with glass
It does not scratch
This is the real trade-off. Acrylic scratches from almost nothing: a dry cloth, a fingernail, dust wiped across the surface. A glass front will still look new in twenty years of ordinary dusting. An acrylic one will not, unless it is treated carefully every time.
It stays optically stable
Glass does not yellow or go cloudy. Good acrylic is very stable now, but it is a plastic and it is more sensitive to solvents and to heat.
It is rigid
A large sheet of acrylic flexes. In a big frame it can bow slightly inward or outward, which is visible in raking light.
Where acrylic must not be used
This is the one hard rule in this guide. Never put acrylic over pastel, charcoal, or loose chalk.
Acrylic builds a static charge as it is handled and as air moves across it. That charge is strong enough to lift dry pigment particles straight off the paper and onto the inside of the glazing. The work is damaged, and the damage cannot be undone: the pigment is physically no longer where the artist put it.
For any loose or friable medium, use glass, and hold it off the surface with a spacer or a mat.
Cleaning, which is where acrylic gets ruined
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Never use anything ammonia-based on either. On glass it degrades the coating; on acrylic it can craze the surface permanently.
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Glass: a barely damp microfibre cloth, then dry. Spray the cloth, never the frame, so nothing runs into the rebate.
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Acrylic: a clean, dry, soft cloth and no pressure, or a purpose-made anti-static acrylic cleaner. Dust it off first: wiping grit across acrylic is exactly how it gets scratched.
Quick answer
| Situation |
Use |
| Small to medium work on paper, at home |
Glass |
| Large piece, over about a metre |
Acrylic |
| Anything being shipped |
Acrylic |
| Hallway, above furniture, children's room |
Acrylic |
| Pastel, charcoal, loose chalk |
Glass, always |
| Commercial or public space |
Acrylic |
Shipping: why weight matters more than it seems
We ship every piece insured, Canada in 3 to 7 business days and the US in 5 to 10, and glazing is usually the heaviest single component in the box once the piece is above about 600 mm. This is where acrylic's weight advantage stops being a nice-to-have and starts being the practical reason to choose it.
Glass at 2 mm thickness runs close to 5 kg per square metre. The same size in standard acrylic glazing is under 2 kg per square metre, less than half the weight. On a 1000 mm by 700 mm frame, that difference is the gap between a box a courier drops with one hand and a box that needs two, and heavier boxes are handled more roughly on average, not less, because they get carried at arm's length and set down harder.
Glass is also the one component in a shipped frame that fails outright rather than scuffing. A cracked pane on arrival is a full glazing replacement and a delay, where an acrylic scratch, on the rare piece large enough to pick one up in transit, buffs out. For anything over roughly 800 mm on the long side going any real distance, we default to acrylic glazing unless you specifically want glass, and we will always tell you which one a given order ships with before it leaves Vancouver.
Is acrylic glazing cheaper than glass?
Not usually. Plain acrylic is close to plain glass, and UV-filtering acrylic often costs more than the equivalent glass. Where it saves money is indirectly: lighter frames need less hardware, and nothing gets broken in transit.
Does acrylic block UV?
Only if you buy the UV-filtering grade. Plain acrylic blocks some UV incidentally but not enough to rely on. As with glass, UV filtering and anti-reflective are separate properties, so ask for both by name if you want both.
Can I replace glass with acrylic in a frame I already own?
Usually yes, and it is a common upgrade before a move or a shipment. The rebate has to be deep enough, and acrylic sheet may be slightly thicker than the glass it replaces. Bring the frame in and we will check it.
