Too much whitespace in a GraphicsGrid containing Legended Plots

Question

Where is all the vertical whitespace coming from, and how do I get rid of it?

plot = Plot[{Sin[x], Cos[x]}, {x, 0, 10}, Frame -> True, 
  PlotLegends -> Placed[LineLegend["Expressions"], {1, 0.5}]];
GraphicsGrid[{{plot, plot}, {plot, plot}}, Spacings -> {0, 0}]

EDIT Okay, AspectRatio is definitely the key for the GraphicsGrid option (which I'm pursuing in case I don't want to rasterize). It seems I get rid of all whitespace if:

1. Use AspectRatio->Full in both the plot and the GraphicsGrid
2. Use numerical placement of the legends...not tags like "Before", etc.

What I've come up with so far would get with hairy frame labels, or tick/legend text that varied in length, but I think those things are beyond the scope of this post:

leftPlot = 
  Plot[{Sin[x], Cos[x]}, {x, 0, 10}, Frame -> True, FrameTicks -> All,
    AspectRatio -> Full, Background -> Green, 
   PlotRange -> {{-0.5, 10.5}, {-1.1, 1.1}}, 
   PlotLegends -> 
    Placed[LineLegend["Expressions"], {{0, 0.5}, {1, 0.5}}]];
rightPlot = 
  Plot[{Sin[x], Cos[x]}, {x, 0, 10}, Frame -> True, FrameTicks -> All,
    AspectRatio -> Full, Background -> Green, 
   PlotRange -> {{-0.5, 10.5}, {-1.1, 1.1}}, 
   PlotLegends -> 
    Placed[LineLegend["Expressions"], {{1, 0.5}, {0, 0.5}}]];
GraphicsGrid[
 {{
   Show[leftPlot, 
    ImagePadding -> {{Automatic, None}, {None, Automatic}}],
   Show[rightPlot, 
    ImagePadding -> {{None, Automatic}, {None, Automatic}}]
   },
  {
   Show[leftPlot, 
    ImagePadding -> {{Automatic, None}, {Automatic, None}}],
   Show[rightPlot, 
    ImagePadding -> {{None, Automatic}, {Automatic, None}}]
   }},
 Spacings -> {0, 0}, Frame -> True, AspectRatio -> Full, 
 ImageSize -> 72*{8, 4}]

Answer 1

You might consider using Grid in place of GraphicsGrid. Doing so comes with both pluses and minuses, so it is not a no-brain choice. However, Grid will accommodate any shape and size of display object automatically. When putting plots in a grid, I find it is usually best to set ImageSize in the plot explicitly.

Using your example plot at Medium size

plot = Plot[{Sin[x], Cos[x]}, {x, 0, 10},
  Frame -> True, ImageSize -> Medium,
  PlotLegends -> Placed[LineLegend["Expressions"], {1, 0.5}]]
Grid[{{plot, plot}, {plot, plot}},
 Frame -> All, Spacings -> {0, 0}]

give this

You can see there is no wasted space.

Answer 2

The main problem is that the aspect ratio of the plot and its container are different. You can still use GraphicsGrid with the correct settings:

plot = Plot[{Sin[x], Cos[x]}, {x, 0, 10}, Frame -> True, 
   PlotLegends -> Placed[LineLegend["Expressions"], {.5, 0.5}], 
   Background -> Green, AspectRatio -> 1/GoldenRatio];
GraphicsGrid[{{plot, plot}, {plot, plot}}, Spacings -> {0, 0}, 
 Frame -> All, AspectRatio -> 1/GoldenRatio]

By the way, have you seen my answer to your other question?

Answer 3

Since there still is no accepted answer, although some good ones were given, I try and give my contribution.

While trying to solve a problem similar to yours, I came across this page where it is explained how to realise a grid of plots as follows:

plot = Plot[{Sin[x], Cos[x]}, {x, 0, 10}, Frame -> True, 
ImageSize -> Medium, 
PlotLegends -> LineLegend["Expressions"]]

ResourceFunction["PlotGrid"][
 { {plot,plot} , {plot,plot} }, 
 Spacings -> 25,
 PlotLabels -> {
   Placed[{"top left"}, {Left, Above}],
   Placed[{"top right"}, {Center, Above}],
   "Label 3",
   "Last Label"
   }
 ]

This results in the following plot:

As you can see, the legends of each plot are collected, but that is an easy one to fix:

ResourceFunction["PlotGrid"][
 {
  {
   Plot[{Sin[x], Cos[x]}, {x, 0, 10}, Frame -> True, 
    ImageSize -> Medium, 
    PlotLegends -> Placed[ "Expressions", {1, .5}]],
   Plot[{Sin[x], Cos[x]}, {x, 0, 10}, Frame -> True, 
    ImageSize -> Medium]
   },
  {
   Plot[{Sin[x], Cos[x]}, {x, 0, 10}, Frame -> True, 
    ImageSize -> Medium],
   Plot[{Sin[x], Cos[x]}, {x, 0, 10}, Frame -> True, 
    ImageSize -> Medium]
   }
  },
 Spacings -> 30,
 PlotLabels -> {
   Placed[{"top left"}, {Left, Above}],
   Placed[{"top right"}, {Center, Above}],
   "Label 3",
   "Last Label"
   }
 ]

Resulting in: