Document Size Guide

This guide takes you through some of the common paper sizes available for printed products. When designing for these document sizes, it’s worth noting that we require an oversized artwork file that includes a bleed area around the edge. For instructions on how to achieve this, check out our guide to creating your bleed area.

If you want to preserve image quality on larger documents, you’ll also need to make sure your artwork file is big enough for the job. Take a look at our guide to getting the resolution right when it comes to supplying artwork for bigger products.
 

The ISO 216 standard

ISO 216 is the international standard by which paper sizes are determined. The system establishes three sets of paper sizes, known as the "A", "B" and "C" series.

A series

A4 is familiar to most as the most commonly available paper size in the world. A5 covers half the area of A4, A6 is half the area of A5 and so on. Conversely, A3 is double the area of A4, and so on up to A0, the largest in the series at 841 x 1189mm.

Though not covered by ISO216, dimensions for A series sheets folded horizontally into three parts have also become widely used formats. These are commonly known as strip sizes, for example, A4 Strip is 420 x 148mm.

B series

Using the same aspect ratio between height and width as the A series, B series sheets appear to be the same shape as A sheets. However, the sizes are slightly different. The B series takes as it’s starting point a 1m width for B0. As a result, each B series paper size is slightly larger than its A series counterpart.

C series

The C series was rarely used and isn’t covered in this guide. It was withdrawn as an ISO standard in 2009.