Paper Sizes

Don’t know your paper sizes? Or the difference in size between a compliment slip and a business card?

No need to panic! Take a peek at the range of sizes needed for each document in the table below:

Size Name	Size in cm (without bleed area)	Size in pixels 300dpi (without bleed area)	Size in cm (with bleed area)	Size in pixels 300dpi (with bleed area)
Business Card	8.5 x 5.5 cm	1004 x 650	9.1 x 6.1 cm	1075 x 720
DL / Comp Slip	9.9 x 21.0 cm	1169 x 2480	10.5 x 21.6 cm	1240 x 2551
A6	14.8 x 10.5 cm	1748 x 1240	15.4 x 11.1 cm	1819 x 1311
A5	21.0 x 14.8 cm	2480 x 1748	21.6 x 15.4 cm	2551 x 1819
A4	29.7 x 21.0 cm	3508 x 2480	30.3 x 21.6 cm	3579 x 2551
A3	42.0 x 29.7 cm	4961 x 3605	42.6 x 30.3 cm	5031 x 3579
A2	59.4 x 42.0 cm	7016 x 4961	60.0 x 42.6 cm	7087 x 5031
A1	84.1 x 59.4 cm	9933 x 7016	84.7 x 60.0 cm	10004 x 7087
A0	118.9 x 84.1 cm	14043 x 9933	119.5 x 84.7 cm	14114 x 10004

The dimensions of A sized paper is defined by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 216 standard. This is the international paper size standard, but it is not used by every country. Canada and the US use their own paper size standards. ISO 216 standard defines the A and B series of paper this includes the most popular sizes A3, A4 and A5.

paper sizes

Large Format Paper Sizes

As you can see from the diagram above the A series of paper has the size aspect ratio 1:√2. Using this ratio, when the paper is cut or folded in half width ways each half still has the same aspect ratio. A1 is half the surface area of A0, A2 is half the surface area of A1 – and so on.

In the printing process we use an over sized paper called Supplementary Raw Format A (SRA) (ISO 217) paper sizes. These paper sizes are 115% of their A series counterparts. The reason we use this untrimmed paper is to allow for bleed, crop marks and binding options. The same ratio applies for SRA paper sizes as the A series.