I am making plots in a GUI using matplotlib. My original figure is large, and i would like ot be able to save a smaller version of the figure as a PDF (or PNG). I am able to do so by changing the figsize and then using figsave. However, by doing so, the relative dimensions of the elements change in the PDF, with different numbers on the axis (usually less), labels crashing, etc. Is there a way to change the size and save the figure while preserving the relative size and positions of all the elements?

fig_size = (8, min(3 * npanels,maxsize))
fig = Figure(figsize=fig_size, dpi=80)
    for i in range(0, npanels):
        ax = fig.add_subplot(npanels, 1, i + 1)

fig.set_size_inches(4.08, 4.08)
fig.savefig(fname=fname, dpi=80, format='pdf', papertype='letter',
                        facecolor=fig.get_facecolor(), edgecolor='none',
                        pad_inches=0.01, bbox_inches='tight')

Ok I even tried keeping the size constant (so not changing the chart size anymore) and the relative positons still move after PDFing (same DPI).

Here is the output in GUI: GUI Output

And Here is the PDF (notice how the relive positions change):

PDF Output