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Paper size

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Paper sizes A0 to A8, life-size installation The Invasion of the Square Roots at the CosmoCaixa Barcelona science museum
A size chart illustrating the ISO A series and a comparison with American letter and legal formats
Comparison of some paper and photographic paper sizes close to the A4 size

Paper size standards govern the size of sheets of paper used as writing paper, stationery, cards, and for some printed documents.

The ISO 216 standard, which includes the commonly used A4 size, is the international standard for paper size. It is used across the world except in North America and parts of Central and South America, where North American paper sizes such as "Letter" and "Legal" are used.[1] The international standard for envelopes is the C series of ISO 269.

International standard paper sizes

[edit]
Map of the world showing adoption of paper sizes, according to the Common Locale Data Repository in 2017
  ISO A4 exclusively
  ISO A4 primarily
  US-Letter primarily
  US-Letter predominantly
  US-Letter exclusively

The international paper size standard is ISO 216. It is based on the German DIN 476 standard for paper sizes. Each ISO paper size is one half of the area of the next larger size in the same series. ISO paper sizes are all based on a single aspect ratio of the square root of 2, or approximately 1:1.41421. There are different series, as well as several extensions.

The following international paper sizes are included in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): A3, A4, A5, B4, B5.[2]

A series

[edit]
A size chart illustrating the ISO A series

There are 11 sizes in the A series, designated A0–A10, all of which have an aspect ratio of , where a is the long side and b is the short side.

Since A series sizes share the same aspect ratio they can be scaled to other A series sizes without being distorted, and two sheets can be reduced to fit on exactly one sheet without any cutoff or margins.

The A0 base size is defined as having an area of 1 m2; given an aspect ratio of , the dimensions of A0 are:

by .

or, rounded to the nearest millimetre, 1,189 mm × 841 mm (46.8 in × 33.1 in).

A series sizes are related in that the smaller dimension of a given size is the larger dimension of the next smaller size, and folding an A series sheet in half in its larger dimension—that is, folding it in half parallel to its short edge—results in two halves that are each the size of the next smaller A series size. As such, a folded brochure of a given A-series size can be made by folding sheets of the next larger size in half, e.g. A4 sheets can be folded to make an A5 brochure. The fact that halving a sheet with an aspect ratio of results in two sheets that themselves both have an aspect ratio of is proven as follows:

where a is the long side and b is the short side. The aspect ratio for the new dimensions of the folded paper is:

The advantages of basing a paper size upon an aspect ratio of were noted in 1786 by the German scientist and philosopher Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.[3] He also observed that some raw sizes already adhered to that ratio so that when a sheet is folded, the length to width ratio does not change.

Briefly after the introduction of the metric system, a handful of new paper formats equivalent to modern ones were developed in France, having been proposed by the mathematician Lazare Carnot, and published for judicial purposes in 1798 during the French Revolution.[4] These were never widely adopted, however:

  • grand registre (A2)
  • moyen papier (A3)
  • grand papier (B3)
  • petit papier (B4)
  • demi feuille (B5)
  • effets de commerce (half-B5)

Early in the 20th century, the ratio was used to specify the world format starting with 1 cm as the short edge of the smallest size. Walter Porstmann started with the largest sizes instead, assigning one an area of 1 m2 (A0) and the other a short edge of 1 m (B0). He thereby turned the forgotten French sizes (relatively few in number) into a logically-simple and comprehensive plan for a full range of paper sizes, while introducing systematic alphanumeric monikers for them. Generalized to nothing less than four series, this system was introduced as a DIN standard (DIN 476) in Germany in 1922, replacing a vast variety of other paper formats. Even today, the paper sizes are called "DIN A4" (IPA: [diːn.ʔaː.fiːɐ̯]) in everyday use in Germany and Austria.

The DIN 476 standard spread quickly to other countries. Before the outbreak of World War II, it had been adopted by the following countries in Europe:

During World War II, the standard spread to South America and was adopted by Uruguay (1942), Argentina (1943) and Brazil (1943), and afterwards spread to other countries:

By 1975, so many countries were using the German system that it was established as an ISO standard, as well as the official United Nations document format. By 1977, A4 was the standard letter format in 88 of 148 countries. Today the standard has been adopted by all countries in the world except the United States and Canada. In Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, and the Philippines, the US letter format is still in common use, despite their official adoption of the ISO standard.

The weight of an A-series sheet of a given paper weight can be calculated by knowing the ratio of its size to the A0 sheet. For example, an A4 sheet is 116 the size of an A0 sheet, so if it is made from 80-g/m2 paper, it weighs 116 of 80 g, which is 5 g.

B series

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A size chart illustrating the ISO B series

The B series paper sizes are less common than the A series. They have the same aspect ratio as the A series:

However, they have a different area. The area of B series sheets is in fact the geometric mean of successive A series sheets. B1 is between A0 and A1 in size, with an area of m2, or about 0.707 m2. As a result, B0 is 1 metre wide, and other sizes of the series are a half, a quarter, or further fractions of a metre wide: in general, every B size has exactly one side of length for . That side is the short side for B0, B2, B4, etc., and the long side for B1, B3, B5, etc.

While less common in office use, the B series is used for a variety of applications in which one A-series size would be too small but the next A-series size is too large, or because they are convenient for a particular purpose.

  • B4, B5, and B6 are used for envelopes that will hold C-series envelopes.
  • B4 is quite common in printed music sheets.
  • B5 is a relatively common choice for books.
  • B7 is equal to the passport size ID-3 from ISO/IEC 7810.
  • Many posters use B-series paper or a close approximation, such as 50 cm × 70 cm ~ B2.

The B-series is widely used in the printing industry to describe both paper sizes and printing press sizes, including digital presses. B3 paper is used to print two US letter or A4 pages side by side using imposition; four pages would be printed on B2, eight on B1, etc.[need quotation to verify]

C series

[edit]
A size chart illustrating the ISO C series

The C series is defined in ISO 269, which was withdrawn in 2009 without a replacement, but is still specified in several national standards. It is primarily used for envelopes. The area of C series sheets is the geometric mean of the areas of the A and B series sheets of the same number; for instance, the area of a C4 sheet is the geometric mean of the areas of an A4 sheet and a B4 sheet. This means that C4 is slightly larger than A4, and slightly smaller than B4. The practical usage of this is that a letter written on A4 paper fits inside a C4 envelope, and both A4 paper and C4 envelope fits inside a B4 envelope.

Some envelope formats with mixed sides from adjacent sizes (and thus an approximate aspect ratio of 2:1) are also defined in national adaptations of the ISO standard, e.g. DIN C6/C5 (also known as C65) is 114 mm × 229 mm where the common side to C5 and C6 is 162 mm. This format allows an envelope holding an A-sized paper folded in three, e.g. for the C65, an A4.

Overview of ISO paper sizes

[edit]
ISO paper sizes in portrait view (with rounded inch values)
Format A series[6] B series[7] C series[8]
Size short × long Notional area short × long Notional area short × long Notional area
mm in m2 mm in m2 mm in m2
0 841 × 1189 33.1 × 46.8 20 = 1 1000 × 1414 39.4 × 55.7 212 ≈ 1.414 917 × 1297 36.1 × 51.1 214 ≈ 1.189
1 594 × 841 23.4 × 33.1 1/2 = 0.5 707 × 1000 27.8 × 39.4 212 ≈ 0.707 648 × 917 25.5 × 36.1 234 ≈ 0.595
2 420 × 594  16.5 × 23.4 1/22 = 0.25 500 × 707 19.7 × 27.8 21+12 ≈ 0.354 458 × 648 18.0 × 25.5 21+34 ≈ 0.297
3 297 × 420 11.7 × 16.5 1/23 = 0.125 353 × 500 13.9 × 19.7 22+12 ≈ 0.177 324 × 458 12.8 × 18.0 22+34 ≈ 0.149
4 210 × 297 8.3 × 11.7 1/24 = 0.0625 250 × 353 9.8 × 13.9 23+12 ≈ 0.088 229 × 324 9.0 × 12.8 23+34 ≈ 0.0743
5 148 × 210 5.8 × 8.3 1/25 ≈ 0.0313 176 × 250 6.9 × 9.8 24+12 ≈ 0.044 162 × 229 6.4 × 9.0 24+34 ≈ 0.0372
6 105 × 148 4.1 × 5.8 1/26 ≈ 0.0156 125 × 176 4.9 × 6.9 25+12 ≈ 0.0221 114 × 162 4.5 × 6.4 25+34 ≈ 0.0186
7 74 × 105 2.9 × 4.1 1/27 ≈ 0.0078 88 × 125 3.5 × 4.9 26+12 ≈ 0.0110 81 × 114 3.2 × 4.5 26+34 ≈ 0.0093
8 52 × 74 2.0 × 2.9 1/28 ≈ 0.0039 62 × 88 2.4 × 3.5 27+12 ≈ 0.0055 57 × 81 2.2 × 3.2 27+34 ≈ 0.0046
9 37 × 52 1.5 × 2.0 1/29 ≈ 0.0020 44 × 62 1.7 × 2.4 28+12 ≈ 0.0028 40 × 57 1.6 × 2.2 28+34 ≈ 0.0023
10 26 × 37 1.0 × 1.5 1/210 ≈ 0.00098 31 × 44 1.2 × 1.7 29+12 ≈ 0.0014 28 × 40 1.1 × 1.6 29+34 ≈ 0.0012
i where
where
where

The variables are the distinct first terms in the three geometric progressions of the same common ratio equal to the square root of two. Each of the three geometric progressions (corresponding to the three series A, B, and C) is formed by all possible paper dimensions (length and width) of the series arranged in decreasing order. This interesting arrangement of dimensions is also very useful—not only does it form a geometric progression with easy-to-remember formulae, but also each consecutive pair of values (like a sliding window of size 2) will automatically correspond to the dimensions of a standard paper format in the series.

The tolerances specified in the standard are

  • ±1.5 mm (0.06 in) for dimensions up to 150 mm (5.9 in),
  • ±2 mm (0.08 in) for lengths in the range 150 to 600 mm (5.9 to 23.6 in) and
  • ±3 mm (0.12 in) for any dimension above 600 mm (23.6 in).

[edit]

German original

[edit]

The German standard DIN 476 was published on 18 August 1922 and is the original specification of the A, B and C sizes. In 1991, it was split into DIN 476-1 for the A and B formats and 476-2 for the C series. The former has been withdrawn in 2002 in favor of adopting the international standard as DIN EN ISO 216, but part 2 has been retained and was last updated in 2008.

The first and the second editions of DIN 476 from 1922 and 1925 also included a D series.

DIN D series paper sizes in portrait view (with rounded inch values)
Format D series
Size mm × mm inch × inch
0 771 × 1090 30+38 × 42+1112
1 545 × 771 21+1124 × 30+38
2 385 × 545 15+16 × 21+1124
3 272 × 385 10+1724 × 15+16
4 192 × 272 7+1324 × 10+1724
5 136 × 192 5+38 × 7+1324
6 96 × 136 3+1924 × 5+38
7 68 × 96 2+23 × 3+1924
8 48 × 68 1+78 × 2+23

The smallest formats in the original specifications for each series were A13, B13, C8, and D8. Sizes A11 through A13 were no longer listed in the 1930 edition, nor were B11 through B13. C9 and C10 were added in the 1976 revision for compatibility with photography sizes: C8 closely matches 6×9 photos, and C9 and C10 closely match 7×7 and 5×5 slides, respectively.

DIN 476:1922 tiny formats (with rounded inch values)
Format A B
Size mm × mm inch × inch mm × mm inch × inch
11 18 × 26 1724 × 1+124 22 × 31 78 × 1+524
12 13 × 18 12 × 1724 15 × 22 712 × 78
13 9 × 13 38 × 12 11 × 15 512 × 712

DIN 476 provides for formats larger than A0, denoted by a prefix factor. In particular, it lists the formats 2A0 and 4A0, which are twice and four times the size of A0 respectively. However, ISO 216:2007 notes 2A0 and 4A0 in the table of Main series of trimmed sizes (ISO A series) as well: "The rarely used sizes [2A0 and 4A0] which follow also belong to this series."

DIN 476 overformats (with rounded inch values)
Name mm × mm inch × inch
4A0 1682 × 2378 66+524 × 93+58
2A0 1189 × 1682 46+1924 × 66+524

DIN 476 also used to specify slightly tighter tolerances than ISO 216:

  • ±1 mm (0.04 in) for dimensions up to 150 mm (5.9 in),
  • ±1.5 mm (0.06 in) for lengths in the range 150 mm to 600 mm (5.9 to 23.6 in) and
  • ±2 mm (0.08 in) for any dimension above 600 mm (23.6 in).

There used to be a standard, DIN 198, that was just a table of recommended A series formats for a number of business applications. The 1976 edition of this standard introduced a size 23 A4 198 mm × 210 mm and suggested it for some forms and slips.

Swedish extensions

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Comparison of ISO 216 and Swedish standard SIS 014711 paper sizes between A4 and A3 sizes

The Swedish standard SIS 01 47 11[9] generalized the ISO system of A, B, and C formats by adding D, E, F, and G formats to it. Its D format sits between a B format and the next larger A format (just like C sits between A and the next larger B). The remaining formats fit in between all these formats, such that the sequence of formats A4, E4, C4, G4, B4, F4, D4, *H4, A3 is a geometric progression, in which the dimensions grow by a factor from one size to the next. However, this SIS standard does not define any size between a D format and the next larger A format (called *H in the previous example).

Of these additional formats, G5 (169 × 239 mm) and E5 (155 × 220 mm) are popular in Sweden and the Netherlands for printing dissertations,[10] but the other formats have not turned out to be particularly useful in practice. They have not been adopted internationally and the Swedish standard has been withdrawn.

The Swedish and German D series basically contain the same sizes but are offset by one, i.e. DIN D4 equals SIS D5 and so on.

SIS 014711 formulas,[11] including the missing step, series *H, between D and A,
Designation Shorter edge Longer edge
An r−4 × sn r+4 × sn
En r−3 × sn r+5 × sn
Cn r−2 × sn r+6 × sn
Gn r−1 × sn r+7 × sn
Bn r 0 × sn r+8 × sn
Fn r+1 × sn r+9 × sn
Dn r+2 × sn r+10 × sn
*Hn r+3 × sn r+11 × sn
A(n-1) r+4 × sn r+12 × sn
Swedish D through G series
n A E C G B F D *H
0 841 × 1189 878 × 1242 917 × 1297 958 × 1354 1000 × 1414 1044 × 1477 1091 × 1542 1139 × 1610
1 595 × 841 621 × 878 648 × 917 677 × 958 707 × 1000 738 × 1044 771 × 1091 805 × 1139
2 420 × 595 439 × 621 459 × 648 479 × 677 500 × 707 522 × 738 545 × 771 569 × 805
3 297 × 420 310 × 439 324 × 459 339 × 479 354 × 500 369 × 522 386 × 545 403 × 569
4 210 × 297 220 × 310 229 × 324 239 × 339 250 × 354 261 × 369 273 × 386 285 × 403
5 149 × 210 155 × 220 162 × 229 169 × 239 177 × 250 185 × 261 193 × 273 201 × 285
6 105 × 149 110 × 155 115 × 162 120 × 169 125 × 177 131 × 185 136 × 193 142 × 201
7 74 × 105 78 × 110 81 × 115 85 × 120 88 × 125 92 × 131 96 × 136 101 × 142
8 53 × 74 55 × 78 57 × 81 60 × 85 63 × 88 65 × 92 68 × 96 71 × 101
9 37 × 53 39 × 55 41 × 57 42 × 60 44 × 63 46 × 65 48 × 68 50 × 71
10 26 × 37 27 × 39 29 × 41 30 × 42 31 × 44 33 × 46 34 × 48 36 × 50

Japanese variation

[edit]

The Japanese standard JIS P 0138 defines two main series of paper sizes. The JIS A-series is identical to the ISO A-series except that it has slightly different tolerances. The area of B-series paper is 1.5 times that of the corresponding A-paper (instead of the factor for the ISO B-series), so the length ratio is approximately 1.22 times the length of the corresponding A-series paper. The aspect ratio of the paper is the same as for the A-series paper. Both A- and B-series paper are widely available in Japan, Taiwan and China, and most photocopiers are loaded with at least A4 and either one of A3, B4, and B5 paper.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) only supports the most popular of the Japanese sizes, JIS-B4 and JIS-B5.[2]

JIS B series paper sizes (with rounded inch values)
Size mm × mm inch × inch
0 1030 × 1456 40+1324 × 57+13
1 728 × 1030 28+23 × 40+1324
2 515 × 728 20+724 × 28+23
3 364 × 515 14+13 × 20+724
4 257 × 364 10+18 × 14+13
5 182 × 257 7+16 × 10+18
6 128 × 182 5+124 × 7+16
7 91 × 128 3+712 × 5+124
8 64 × 91 2+12 × 3+712
9 45 × 64 1+1924 × 2+12
10 32 × 45 1+14 × 1+1924
11 22 × 32 78 × 1+14
12 16 × 22 58 × 78
JIS P 0202 raw sizes (with rounded inch values)
Size mm × mm inch × inch AR sun × sun
A 625 × 880 24+58 × 34+58 √2∶1 20.6 × 29
B 765 × 1085 30+18 × 42+1724 √2∶1 25.25 × 35.8
Shiroku-ban (4-6) 788 × 1091 31+124 × 42+2324 1.38 26 × 36
Kiku-ban (Chrysanthemum) 636 × 939 25+124 × 36+2324 1.48 21 × 31
Hattron 900 × 1200 35+512 × 47+14 4∶3 29.7 × 39.6

A popular size for books, dubbed AB, combines the shorter edges of A4 and B4. Another two with an aspect ratio approximating 16:9 are 20% narrower variants of A6 and B6, respectively, the latter resulting from cutting JIS B1 into 4 × 10 sheets (thus "B40").

There are also a number of traditional paper sizes, which are now used mostly by printers. The most common of these old series is the Shiroku-ban and the Kiku paper sizes.

Other Japanese paper sizes (with rounded inch values)[need quotation to verify]
Size mm × mm inch × inch AR sun × sun Notes
AB 210 × 257 8+14 × 10+18 11∶9 6.93 × 8.48 A4/A5 × JIS B4/B5
B40 103 × 182 4+124 × 7+16 16∶9 3.4 × 6 JIS B1 height10 × width4
35 84 × 148 3+724 × 5+56 1.76 2.77 × 4.88 trimmed 3 × 5
Kiku-ban 227 × 304 8+1112 × 11+2324 1.34 7.5 × 10
218 × 304 8+712 × 11+2324 1.39 7.2 × 10
152 × 227 6 × 8+1112 1.49 5 × 7.5
152 × 218 6 × 8+712 10∶7 5 × 7.2

Chinese extensions

[edit]

The Chinese standard GB/T 148–1997,[12] which replaced GB 148–1989, documents the standard ISO series, A and B, but adds a custom D series. This Chinese format originates from the Republic of China (1912–1949). The D series is not identical to the German or Swedish D series. It does not strictly follow the same principles as ISO paper sizes: The aspect ratio is only very roughly . The short side of the size is always 4 mm longer than the long side of the next smaller size. The long side of the size is always exactly – i.e. without further rounding – twice as long as the short side of the next smaller size.

SAC paper sizes (with rounded inch values and raw sizes)
Format D series AR Alias Untrimmed sizes
Size mm × mm inch × inch mm × mm inch × inch
0 764 × 1064 30+112 × 41+78 1.3927 1K 780 × 1080 30+1724 × 42+12
1 532 × 760 20+2324 × 29+1112 1.4286 2K 540 × 780 21+14 × 30+1724
2 380 × 528 14+2324 × 20+1924 1.3895 4K 390 × 540 15+38 × 21+14
3 264 × 376 10+38 × 14+1924 1.4242 8K 270 × 390 10+58 × 15+38
4 188 × 260 7+512 × 10+14 1.3830 16K 195 × 270 7+23 × 10+58
5 130 × 184 5+18 × 7+14 1.4154 32K 135 × 195 5+13 × 7+23
6 92 × 126 3+58 × 4+2324 1.3696 64K 97 × 135 3+56 × 5+13

Indian variants

[edit]

The Bureau of Indian Standards recommends the "ISO-A series" size of drawing sheet for engineering drawing works. The Bureau of Indian Standards specifies all the recommendations for engineering drawing sheets in its bulletin IS 10711: 2001.[13]

The Bureau extended the ISO-A series with a Special Elongated Sizes (Second Choice). These sizes are achieved by increasing the shorter dimensions of a sheet of the ISO A series to lengths that are multiples of the shorter dimensions of the chosen basic sheet; in effect, all of the Indian elongated sizes emulate having several regular-size sheets joined on their long edge.

IS Special Elongated Sizes (Second Choice) with rounded inch values
Size mm × mm in × in AR
A3 x 3 420 × 891 16+1324 × 35+112 3∶√2
A3 x 4 420 × 1189 16+1324 × 46+1924 4∶√2
A4 x 3 297 × 630 11+1724 × 24+1924 3∶√2
A4 x 4 297 × 841 11+1724 × 33+18 4∶√2
A4 x 5 297 × 1051 11+1724 × 41+38 5∶√2

There is also a Exceptional Elongated Sizes (Third Choice). These sizes are obtained by increasing the shorter dimensions of a sheet of the ISO-A series to lengths that are multiples of the shorter dimensions of the chosen basic sheet. These sizes are used when a very large or extra elongated sheet is needed.

IS Exceptional Elongated Sizes (Third Choice) with rounded inch values
Size mm × mm in × in AR
A0 x 2 1189 × 1682 46+1924 × 66+524 √2∶1
A0 x 3 1189 × 2523 46+1924 × 99+13 3∶√2
A1 x 3 841 × 1783 33+18 × 70+524 3∶√2
A1 x 4 841 × 2378 33+18 × 93+58 4∶√2
A2 x 3 594 × 1261 23+38 × 49+58 3∶√2
A2 x 4 594 × 1682 23+38 × 66+524 4∶√2
A2 x 5 594 × 2102 23+38 × 82+34 5∶√2
A3 x 5 420 × 1486 16+1324 × 58+12 5∶√2
A3 x 6 420 × 1783 16+1324 × 70+524 6∶√2
A3 x 7 420 × 2080 16+1324 × 81+78 7∶√2
A4 x 6 297 × 1261 11+1724 × 49+58 6∶√2
A4 x 7 297 × 1471 11+1724 × 57+1112 7∶√2
A4 x 8 297 × 1682 11+1724 × 66+524 8∶√2
A4 x 9 297 × 1892 11+1724 × 74+12 9∶√2

Soviet variants

[edit]

The first standard of paper size in the Soviet Union was OST 303 in 1926. Six years later, it was replaced by OST 5115 which generally followed DIN 476 principles, but used Cyrillic lowercase letters instead of Latin uppercase, had the second row shifted so that б0 (B0) roughly corresponded to B1 and, more importantly, had slightly different sizes:[14]

OST 5115 formats (1932)
Format а (A) б (B) в (V, C)
Size mm × mm inch × inch mm × mm inch × inch mm × mm inch × inch
0 814 × 1152 32+124 × 45+38 747 × 1056 29+512 × 41+712
1 576 × 814 22+23 × 32+124 528 × 747 20+1924 × 29+512 628 × 888 24+1724 × 34+2324
2 407 × 576 16+124 × 22+23 373 × 528 14+23 × 20+1924 444 × 628 17+12 × 24+1724
3 288 × 407 11+13 × 16+124 264 × 373 10+38 × 14+23 314 × 444 12+38 × 17+12
4 203 × 288 8 × 11+13 186 × 264 7+13 × 10+38 222 × 314 8+34 × 12+38
5 144 × 203 5+23 × 8 132 × 186 5+524 × 7+13 157 × 222 6+16 × 8+34
6 101 × 144 3+2324 × 5+23 93 × 132 3+23 × 5+524 111 × 157 4+38 × 6+16
7 72 × 101 2+56 × 3+2324 66 × 93 2+712 × 3+23 78 × 111 3+112 × 4+38
8 50 × 72 1+2324 × 2+56 46 × 66 1+1924 × 2+712 55 × 78 2+16 × 3+112
9 36 × 50 1+512 × 1+2324 33 × 46 1+724 × 1+1924 39 × 55 1+1324 × 2+16
10 25 × 36 1 × 1+512 23 × 33 1112 × 1+724
11 18 × 25 1724 × 1 16 × 23 58 × 1112
12 12 × 18 1124 × 1724 11 × 16 512 × 58
13 9 × 12 38 × 1124

The general adaptation of ISO 216 in the Soviet Union, which replaced OST 5115, was GOST 9327. In its 1960 version, it lists formats down to A13, B12 and C8 and also specifies 12, 14 and 18 prefixes for halving the shorter side (repeatedly) for stripe formats, e.g. 12A4 = 105 mm × 297 mm.

A1, A2, A3, A4 and non-ISO sizes as GOST 3450-60 formats

A standard for technical drawings from 1960, GOST 3450,[15] introduces alternative numeric format designations to deal with very high or very wide sheets. These 2-digit codes are based upon A4 = "11": The first digit is the factor the longer side (297 mm) is multiplied by and the second digit is the one for the shorter side (210 mm), so "24" is 2×297 mm × 4×210 mm = 594 mm × 840 mm.

Soviet formats with multiplied shorter side (mm×mm)
n (×1) ×2 ×3 ×4 ×5 ×6
5 = A0 = 2A0 2523 × 1189 3364 × 1189 4204 × 1189 5045 × 1189
4 = A1 = A0 1784 × 841 2378 × 841 2973 × 841 3568 × 841
3 = A2 = A1 1261 × 595 1682 × 595 2102 × 595 2523 × 595
2 = A3 = A2 892 × 420 1189 × 420 1487 × 420 1784 × 420
1 = A4 = A3 631 × 297 841 × 297 1051 × 297 1261 × 297
0 = A5 = A4 446 × 210 595 × 210 743 × 210 892 × 210
A2, A3, A4 and some derived non-ISO sizes as GOST 2301-68 formats

GOST 3450 from 1960 was replaced by ESKD GOST 2301 in 1968,[16] but the numeric designations remained in popular use much longer. The new designations were not purely numeric but consisted of the ISO label followed by an 'x', or possibly the multiplication sign '×', and the factor, e.g. DIN 2A0 = GOST A0×2, but DIN 4A0 ≠ GOST A0×4, also listed are: A0×3, A1×3, A1×4, A2×3–A2×5, A3×3–A3×7, A4×3–A4×9. The formats ...×1 and ...×2 usually would be aliases for existing formats.

Elongated sizes

[edit]

ISO 5457, last updated in 1999,[17] introduces elongated sizes that are formed by a combination of the dimensions of the short side of an A-size (e.g. A2) with the dimensions of the long side of another larger A-size (e.g. A0). The result is a new size, for example with the abbreviation A2.0 we would have a 420 × 1189 mm size.

elongated ISO paper sizes
elongated paper sizes schema
ISO 5457 elongated paper sizes
Size Short edge Long edge mm × mm in × in AR
A1.0 A1/A2 A0 594 × 1189 23+38 × 46+1924 2∶1
A2.0 A2/A3 A0 420 × 1189 16+1324 × 46+1924 4∶√2
A2.1 A1/A0 420 × 841 16+1324 × 33+18 2∶1
A3.0 A3/A4 A0 297 × 1189 11+1724 × 46+1924 4∶1
A3.1 A1/A0 297 × 841 11+1724 × 33+18 4∶√2
A3.2 A2/A1 297 × 594 11+1724 × 23+38 2∶1

These drawing paper sizes have been adopted by ANSI/ASME Y14.1M for use in the United States, alongside A0 through A4 and alongside inch-based sizes.

International envelope and insert sizes

[edit]
Common folded or cut sizes of ISO paper: stripe formats and inserts
Name mm × mm inch × inch AR Notes
13A4 99 × 210 3+1112 × 8+14 3∶√2 common flyer or stripe size
unnamed 105 × 210 4+18 × 8+14 2∶1 standard folded size of German letters
DIN 5008 Form A

DIN 5008 (previously DIN 676) prescribes, among many other things, two variants, A and B, for the location of the address field on the first page of a business letter and how to fold the A4 sheet accordingly, so the only part visible of the main content is the subject line.

Common envelopes for ISO paper, that are not simple C-series and B-series formats
Name mm × mm inch × inch AR Content Notes
DL 110 × 220 4+13 × 8+23 2∶1 13A4, DIN 5008 A and B designated long, "DIN lang" (DIN long); sometimes erroneously instead called "DLE", apparently for envelope; exactly matches Swedish SIS E6/E5 (E6: 110 mm × 155 mm, E5: 155 mm × 220 mm); envelope #5 in China, Chou/N 6 in Japan; fits well enclosed in C6/C5 for the purpose of e.g. reply mail
C6/C5 114 × 229 4+12 × 9 2∶1 common edge of C6 and C5 is 161 mm;

also known as "Postfix", "DL+" or "DL Max", but those terms are not standardized

Italian 110 × 230 4+13 × 9+124 2.10∶1 centimeter-rounded C6/C5 or slightly wider DL
C7/C6 81 × 162 3+524 × 6+38 2∶1 13A5 common edge of C7 and C6 is 114 mm
B6/C4 125 × 324 4+1112 × 12+34 2.6 B6 is 125 mm × 176 mm, C4 is 229 mm × 324 mm
Invite 220 × 220 8+23 × 8+23 1∶1 square card with edge of A4 and A5, 210 mm
DIN E4 280 × 400 11+124 × 15+34 10∶7 listed in DIN 476–2, but not part of a series proper; SIS E4 is 220 mm × 310 mm

International raw sizes

[edit]
ISO 217 raw and ISO 5457 untrimmed sheet sizes
raw mm × mm inch × inch special raw mm × mm inch × inch untrimmed mm × mm inch × inch trimmed mm × mm inch × inch mm × mm inch × inch
RA0 860 × 1220 33+34 × 48 SRA0 900 × 1280 35+12 × 50+12 A0U 880 × 1230 34+34 × 48+12 A0T 841 × 1189 33 × 46+34 821 × 1159 32+14 × 45+34
RA1 610 × 860 24 × 33+34 SRA1 640 × 900 25+14 × 35+12 A1U 625 × 880 24+12 × 34+34 A1T 594 × 841 23+12 × 33 574 × 811 22+12 × 32
RA2 430 × 610 17 × 24 SRA2 450 × 640 17+34 × 25+14 A2U 450 × 625 17+34 × 24+12 A2T 420 × 594 16+12 × 23+12 400 × 564 15+34 × 22+14
RA3 305 × 430 12 × 17 SRA3 320 × 450 12+12 × 17+34 A3U 330 × 450 13 × 17+34 A3T 297 × 420 11+34 × 16+12 277 × 390 11 × 15+14
RA4 215 × 305 8+12 × 12 SRA4 225 × 320 8+34 × 12+12 A4U 240 × 330 9+12 × 13 A4T 210 × 297 8+14 × 11+34 180 × 277 7 × 11

ISO 5457 specifies drawing paper sizes with a trimmed size equal to the A series sizes from A4 upward. The untrimmed sizes are 3 to 4 cm larger and rounded to the nearest centimetre. A0 through A3 are used in landscape orientation, while A4 is used in portrait orientation. Designations for preprinted drawing paper include the base sizes and a suffix, either T for trimmed or U for untrimmed sheets.

The withdrawn standard ISO 2784 did specify sizes of continuous, fan-fold forms based upon whole inches as was common for paper in continuous lengths in automatic data processing (ADP) equipment. Specifically, 12 inches (304.8 mm) were considered an untrimmed variant of the A4 height of 297 mm.

ISO 2784:1974 correspondence for continuous ADP paper
Size Acceptable equivalent Direct equivalent Exact size Gross size
inch × inch mm × mm AR inch × inch mm × mm AR mm × mm mm × mm inch × inch
A4 8 × 12 203.2 × 304.8 3∶2 8+13 × 11+23 211.7 × 296.3 7∶5 210 × 297 250 × 340 9+45 × 13+25
A5 6 × 8 152.4 × 203.2 4∶3 5+56 × 8+13 148.2 × 211.7 10∶7 148 × 210 180 × 250 7+110 × 9+45
A6 4 × 6 101.6 × 152.4 3∶2 4+16 × 5+56 105.8 × 148.2 7∶5 105 × 148
A7 3 × 4 76.20 × 101.6 4∶3 74 × 105

Transitional paper sizes

[edit]

PA4 or L4

[edit]
Hypothetical PA4-based series
Name mm × mm inch × inch AR
PA0 840 × 1120 33+18 × 44+18 4∶3
PA1 560 × 840 22 × 33+18 3∶2
PA2 420 × 560 16+12 × 22 4∶3
PA3 280 × 420 11 × 16+12 3∶2
PA4 210 × 280 8+14 × 11 4∶3
PA5 140 × 210 5+12 × 8+14 3∶2
PA6 105 × 140 4+18 × 5+12 4∶3
PA7 70 × 105 2+34 × 4+18 3∶2
PA8 52 × 70 2 × 2+34 1.35
PA9 35 × 52 1+38 × 2 1.49
PA10 26 × 35 1 × 1+38 1.35

A transitional size called PA4 (210 mm × 280 mm or 8.27 in × 11.02 in), sometimes dubbed L4, was proposed for inclusion into the ISO 216 standard in 1975. It has the height of Canadian P4 paper (215 mm × 280 mm, about 8+12 in × 11 in) and the width of international A4 paper (210 mm × 297 mm or 8.27 in × 11.69 in), i.e. it uses the smaller value among the two for each side. The table shows how this format can be generalized into an entire format series.

The PA formats did not end up in ISO 216, because the committee decided that the set of standardized paper formats should be kept to the minimum necessary.[citation needed] However, PA4 remains of practical use today. In landscape orientation, it has the same 4:3 aspect ratio as the displays of traditional TV sets, some computer displays (e.g. the iPad) and data projectors. PA4, with appropriate margins is, therefore, a good choice as the format of presentation slides.

As a compromise between the two most popular paper sizes globally, PA4 is used today by many international magazines, because it can be printed easily on equipment designed for either A4 or US Letter. That means (in practice) it has turned out to be not so much a paper size as a page format. Apple, for instance, requires this format for digital music album booklets.[18]

The size 210 mm × 280 mm was documented in the Canadian standard CAN2-200.2-M79 "Common Image Area for Paper Sizes P4 and A4".[19]

F4

[edit]
Hypothetical F4-based series
Name mm × mm inch × inch AR
F0 841 × 1321 33+18 × 52 1.57
F1 660 × 841 26 × 33+18 1.27
F2 420 × 660 16+12 × 26 1.57
F3 330 × 420 13 × 16+12 1.27
F4 210 × 330 8+14 × 13 1.57
F5 165 × 210 6+12 × 8+14 1.27
F6 105 × 165 4+18 × 6+12 1.57
F7 82 × 105 3+14 × 4+18 32∶25
F8 52 × 82 2 × 3+14 1.58
F9 41 × 52 1+58 × 2 1.27
F10 26 × 41 1 × 1+58 1.58

A non-standard F4 paper size is common in Southeast Asia. It is a transitional size with the shorter side of ISO A4 (210 mm, 8+14 inch) and the longer side of British Foolscap (13-inch, 330 mm). ISO A4 is exactly 90% the height of F4. This size is sometimes also known as (metric) 'foolscap' or 'folio'.

In some countries, the narrow side of F4 is slightly broader: 8.5 inches (216 mm) or 215 mm. It is then equivalent to the US Government Legal and Foolscap Folio sizes. In Indonesia, where it is the legally-mandated paper size for use in the printing of national legislation, it is sometimes called Folio or HVS (from Dutch: houtvrij schrijfpapier, "wood-free writing paper"). In Philippines, it is commonly called long bond as opposed to short bond which refers to the US Letter paper size.

A sheet of F4 can be cut from a sheet of SRA4 with very little wastage. The size is also smaller than its Swedish equivalent SIS F4 at 239 mm × 338 mm.

Weltformat

[edit]

The Weltformat (world format) was developed by German chemist Wilhelm Ostwald in 1911 as part of Die Brücke, around the same time DIN 476 was first discussed. It shares the same design primitives, especially the aspect ratio, but is based upon 1 cm as the short edge of the smallest size. Sizes were designated by roman numerals. The result, for the fourth through fourteenth size, is close to the DIN/ISO C series. [20]

[21]

Original world format sizes with equivalent C-series format
Weltformat mm × mm inch × inch DIN
I 10 × 14 38 × 12
II 14 × 20 12 × 34
III 20 × 28 34 × 1+18
IV 28 × 40 1+18 × 1+58 C10
V 40 × 57 1+58 × 2+14 C9
VI 57 × 80 2+14 × 3+18 C8
VII 80 × 113 3+18 × 4+12 C7
VIII 113 × 160 4+12 × 6+14 C6
IX 160 × 226 6+14 × 8+78 C5
X 226 × 320 8+78 × 12+58 C4
XI 320 × 453 12+58 × 17+78 C3
XII 453 × 640 17+78 × 25+14 C2
XIII 640 × 905 25+14 × 35+58 C1
XIV 905 × 1280 35+58 × 50+38 C0
XV 1280 × 1810 50+38 × 71+14
XVI 1810 × 2560 71+14 × 100+34

The sizes have been used for some print products in the early 20th century in central Europe but got replaced by DIN sizes almost entirely. However, it was successfully adopted from 1913 onwards for posters and placards in Switzerland. Even today, the default size for posters in Swiss advertisements, F4, is colloquially known as Weltformat, although it measures 895 mm × 1280 mm, i.e. 1 cm less than size XIV. [22] This poster size goes alongside F12 "Breitformat" 2685 mm × 1280 mm (3 × F4) and F24 "Großformat" 2685 mm × 2560 mm (2 × 3 × F4, ) as well as F200 "Cityformat" 1165 mm × 1700 mm.

A0a

[edit]

Although the movement is towards the international standard metric paper sizes, on the way there from the traditional ones there has been at least one new size just a little larger than that used internationally.

British architects and industrial designers once used a size called "Antiquarian", 31 in × 53 in (787 mm × 1,346 mm), as listed above, but given in the New Metric Handbook (Tutt & Adler 1981) as 813 mm × 1,372 mm (32 in × 54 in) for board size. This is a little larger than ISO A0, 841 mm × 1189 mm. So for a short time, a size called A0a of 1,000 mm × 1,370 mm (39.4 in × 53.9 in) was used in Britain, which is actually just a slightly shorter version of ISO B0 at 1414 mm.

Pliego

[edit]
Colombian metric paper sizes [23]
Size mm × mm inch × inch AR
Pliego 700 × 1000 27+12 × 39+14 10∶7
12 pliego 500 × 700 19+34 × 27+12 7∶5
14 pliego 350 × 500 13+34 × 19+34 10∶7
18 pliego 250 × 350 9+34 × 13+34 7∶5

The most common paper sizes used for commercial and industrial printing in Colombia are based upon a size referred to as pliego that is ISO B1 (707 mm × 1000 mm) cut to full decimetres. Smaller sizes are derived by halving as usual and just get a vulgar fraction prefix: 12 pliego and 14 pliego.

K

[edit]

In East Asia, i.e. Japan, Taiwan, and China in particular, there is a number of similar paper sizes in common use for book-making and other purposes. Confusingly, a single designation is often used with slightly different edge measures: The base sheet is labeled 1K (or 1开, where K stands for Chinese: 开本; pinyin: kāiběn; lit. 'folio'; or 1切/1取 in Japanese); all smaller sizes derived by halving have the power of two number, i = 2n, in front of the uppercase letter K. The number in ISO designations, in contrast, is the exponent n that would yield the number of sheets cut from the base sizes.

The sizes of such folios depend on the base sheet. Pre-metric standards include:

  • The imperial 菊判 (kiku-ban), named after the Chrysanthemum watermark on imperial paper, measuring 636mm × 939mm.
  • The four-by-six 四六判 shi-roku-ban (4×6 or 4/6), where the final size at 32K was measured 4 by 6 sun in Japan, c. 121 × 181 mm, or slightly more, 127 or 130 × 188 mm i.e. 4.2 or 4.3 × 6.2 sun.
    • In Taiwan, the traditional base size 1K inherited from Japan is sometimes quoted as measuring 31 × 43 inches exactly, which is off by c. 1 millimeter from the commonly quoted metric base size of 788 × 1091 mm, which is directly derived from 26 × 36 sun or 2.6 × 3.6 shaku.
  • The three-by-five 三五判 (3×5 or 3/5), where the final size at 32K is slightly less than 3 by 5 sun, often given as 84 × 148 mm which would be c. 2.8 × 4.9 sun.

The 4/6 standard has given rise to newer metric book-size standards, including:

  • The modern Japanese size for books, simply labeled B and is specified as 765 × 1085 millimeters. It is not directly related to the similar JIS B series, where B1 is slightly smaller.
  • The Chinese SAC D series.
Traditional East-Asian Kai or 2nK paper sizes with comparable modern sizes, all in (mm × mm)
4/6 Taiwanese finishes (trimmed 4/6) Japan Kai Japanese finishes JIS B JIS P 0138 SAC
shaku-based inch-based trimmed untrimmed
1K 788 × 1091 787 × 1092 758 × 1060 760 × 1040 765 × 1085 B1 728 × 1030 D0 764 × 1064 780 × 1080
2K 545 × 788 546 × 787 530 × 758 520 × 760 (542 × 765) B2 515 × 728 D1 532 × 760 540 × 780
4K 394 × 545 394 × 546 379 × 530 380 × 520 (382 × 542) B3 364 × 515 D2 380 × 532 390 × 540
8K 272 × 394 273 × 394 265 × 379 260 × 380 267 × 389 275 × 395 264 × 379 (271 × 382) B4 257 × 364 D3 264 × 376 270 × 390
16K 197 × 272 197 × 273 189 × 265 190 × 260 198 × 275 189 × 262 (191 × 271) B5 182 × 257 D4 188 × 260 195 × 270
32K 136 × 197 137 × 197 132 × 189 130 × 190 130 × 188 127 × 188 (135 × 191) B6 128 × 182 D5 130 × 184 135 × 195
64K 98 × 136 98 × 137 94 × 132 95 × 130 B7 91 × 128 D6 92 × 130 97 × 135
128K 68 × 98 66 × 94 65 × 95 B8 64 × 91 (65 × 92) (67 × 97)

North American paper sizes

[edit]

Inch-based loose sizes

[edit]
American loose paper sizes[24]
Size inch × inch mm × mm AR
Ledger[25] 17 × 11 432 × 279 0.65
Tabloid Extra 12 × 18 305 × 457 3∶2
European EDP 12 × 14 305 × 356 1.17
Tabloid 11 × 17 279 × 432 1.55
11 × 15 11 × 15 279 × 381 1.36
Fanfold 11 × 14+78 279 × 378 1.35
EDP 11 × 14 279 × 356 1.27
11 × 12 11 × 12 279 × 305 12∶11
10 × 14 10 × 14 254 × 356 7∶5
10 × 13 10 × 13 254 × 330 1.3
10 × 11 10 × 11 254 × 279 11∶10
Legal Extra 9+12 × 15 241 × 381 1.58
Letter Extra 9+12 × 12 241 × 305 1.26
Letter Tab 9 × 11 229 × 279 11∶9
Legal 8+12 × 14 216 × 356 1.65
Foolscap folio 8+12 × 13+12 216 × 343 1.59
Oficio 8+12 × 13+25 216 × 340 1.58
Government Legal;[26] Foolscap[24] 8+12 × 13 216 × 330 1.53
Letter Plus 8+12 × 12+23 216 × 322 1.49
European Fanfold 8+12 × 12 216 × 305 √2∶1
Letter 8+12 × 11 216 × 279 1.29
Quarto 8+12 × 10+56 216 × 275 1.27
Government Legal[24] (Foolscap Folio) 8 × 13 203 × 330 1.63
Demitab (Government Letter) 8 × 10+12 203 × 267 1.31
Government Letter 8 × 10 203 × 254 5∶4
Executive 7+14 × 10+12 184 × 267 1.45
7 × 9 7 × 9 178 × 229 1.29
Memo, Statement, Mini, Invoice;
Stationery, Half Letter
5+12 × 8+12 140 × 216 1.55
Junior Legal 5 × 8 127 × 203 8∶5
5 × 7 5 × 7 127 × 178 7∶5

The United States, Canada, and the Philippines[1] primarily use a different system of paper sizes from the rest of the world. The current standard sizes are unique to those countries, although due to the size of the North American market and proliferation of both software and printing hardware from the region, other parts of the world have become increasingly familiar with these sizes (though not necessarily the paper itself). Some traditional North American inch-based sizes differ from the Imperial British sizes described below.

Common American loose sizes

[edit]

Letter, Legal and Ledger/Tabloid are by far the most commonly used of these for everyday activities, and the only ones included in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

The origins of the exact dimensions of Letter size paper are lost in tradition and not well documented. The American Forest and Paper Association argues that the dimension originates from the days of manual papermaking and that the 11-inch length of the page is about a quarter of "the average maximum stretch of an experienced vatman's arms."[27] However, this does not explain the width or aspect ratio.

Outside of North America, Letter size may also be known as "American Quarto".[28] If one accepts some trimming, the size is indeed one quarter of the old Imperial paper size known as Demy, 17+12 in × 22+12 in (444 mm × 572 mm).[29] Manufacturers of computer printers, however, recognize inch-based Quarto as 10+56 or 10.83 in (275 mm) long.[24]

Usage and adoption

[edit]

US paper sizes are currently standard in the United States and are the most commonly used formats at least in the Philippines, most of Mesoamerica[30] and Chile. The latter use US Letter, but their Legal size is 13 inches tall (recognized as Foolscap by printer manufacturers,[24] i.e. one inch shorter than its US equivalent.[31]

Mexico and Colombia, for instance, have adopted the ISO standard, but the US Letter format is still the system in use throughout the country. It is rare to encounter ISO standard papers in day-to-day uses, with Carta (Letter), Oficio (Government-Legal), and Doble carta (Ledger/Tabloid) being nearly universal. Printer manufacturers, however, recognize Oficio as 13.4 in (340 mm) long.[24]

In Canada, select US paper sizes are a de facto standard.

Variant American loose sizes

[edit]

There is an additional paper size, 8 in × 10+12 in (205 mm × 265 mm), to which the name Government-Letter was given by the IEEE Printer Working Group (PWG).[24] It was prescribed by Herbert Hoover when he was Secretary of Commerce to be used for US government forms, apparently to enable discounts from the purchase of paper for schools, but more likely due to the standard use of trimming books (after binding) and paper from the standard letter size paper to produce consistency and allow "bleed" printing. In later years, as photocopy machines proliferated, citizens wanted to make photocopies of the forms, but the machines did not generally have this size of paper in their bins. Ronald Reagan therefore had the US government switch to regular Letter size, which is half an inch both longer and wider.[27] The former government size is still commonly used in spiral-bound notebooks, for children's writing and the like, a result of trimming from the current Letter dimensions.

By extension of the American standards, the halved Letter size, 5+12 in × 8+12 in (140 mm × 215 mm), meets the needs of many applications. It is variably known as Statement, Stationery, Memo, Half Letter, Half A (from ANSI sizes) or simply Half Size, and as Invoice by printer manufacturers.[24] Like the similar-sized ISO A5, it is used for everything from personal letter writing to official aeronautical maps. Organizers, notepads, and diaries also often use this size of paper; thus 3-ring binders are also available in this size. Booklets of this size are created using word processing tools with landscape printing in two columns on letter paper which are then cut or folded into the final size.

A foot-long sheet with the common width of Letter and (Government) Legal, i.e. 8+12 in × 12 in (215 mm × 305 mm), would have an aspect ratio very close to the square root of two as used by international paper sizes and would actually almost exactly match ISO RA4 (215 mm × 305 mm). This size is sometimes known as European Fanfold.[24]

While Executive refers to 7+14 in × 10+12 in (185 mm × 265 mm) in America, the Japanese organization for standardization specified it as 216 mm × 330 mm (8.5 in × 13.0 in), which is elsewhere known as Government Legal or Foolscap.

Standardized American paper sizes

[edit]
A size chart illustrating the ANSI sizes, superimposed on an "ANSI E" sheet

In 1996, the American National Standards Institute adopted ANSI/ASME Y14.1 which defined a regular series of paper sizes based upon the de facto standard 8+12 in × 11 in (216 mm × 279 mm) Letter size which it assigned "ANSI A", intended for technical drawings, hence sometimes labeled "Engineering". This series is somewhat similar to the ISO standard in that cutting a sheet in half would produce two sheets of the next smaller size and therefore also includes Ledger/Tabloid[25] as "ANSI B". Unlike the ISO standard, however, the arbitrary base sides forces this series to have two alternating aspect ratios. For example, ANSI A is less elongated than A4, while ANSI B is more elongated than A3.

The Canadian standard CAN2 9.60-M76 and its successor CAN/CGSB 9.60-94 "Paper Sizes for Correspondence" specified paper sizes P1 through P6, which are the U.S. paper sizes rounded to the nearest 5 mm.[32] All custom Canadian paper size standards were withdrawn in 2012.[33]

With care, documents can be prepared so that the text and images fit on either ANSI or their equivalent ISO sheets at a 1:1 reproduction scale.

ANSI and CAN paper sizes
US size inch × inch mm × mm AR Canadian size (mm × mm) Similar size (mm × mm)
CAN P6 107 × 140 ISO A6 105 × 148
CAN P5 140 × 215 ISO A5 148 × 210
ANSI A 8+12 × 11 216 × 279 17:22 CAN P4 215 × 280 ISO A4 210 × 297
ANSI B 11 × 17 279 × 432 11:17 CAN P3 280 × 430 ISO A3 297 × 420
ANSI C 17 × 22 432 × 559 17:22 CAN P2 430 × 560 ISO A2 420 × 594
ANSI D 22 × 34 559 × 864 11:17 CAN P1 560 × 860 ISO A1 594 × 841
ANSI E 34 × 44 864 × 1118 17:22 ISO A0 841 × 1187

Other, informal, larger sizes continuing the alphabetic series illustrated above exist, but they are not part of the series per se, because they do not exhibit the same aspect ratios. For example, Engineering F size is 28 in × 40 in or 711 mm × 1,016 mm with ca. 1.4286:1; it is commonly required for NAVFAC drawings, but is generally less commonly used. Engineering G size is 22+12 in (572 mm) high, but it is a roll format with a variable width up to 90 in (2.3 m) in increments of 8+12 in (216 mm). Engineering H through N sizes are also roll formats.

Such huge sheets were at one time used for full-scale layouts of aircraft parts, automotive parts, wiring harnesses, and the like, but are slowly being phased out, due to widespread use of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Some visual arts fields also continue to use these paper formats for large-scale printouts, such as for displaying digitally painted character renderings at life-size as references for makeup artists and costume designers or to provide an immersive landscape reference.

Architectural sizes

[edit]
A size chart illustrating the Architectural sizes

In addition to the system as listed above, there is a corresponding series of paper sizes used for architectural purposes defined in the same standard, ANSI/ASME Y14.1, which is usually abbreviated "Arch". This series also shares the property that bisecting each size produces two of the size below, with alternating aspect ratios. It may be preferred by North American architects because the aspect ratios (4:3 and 3:2) are ratios of small integers, unlike their ANSI (or ISO) counterparts. Furthermore, the aspect ratio 4:3 matches the traditional aspect ratio for computer displays.

The size Arch E1 has a different aspect ratio because it derives from adding 6 inches to each side of Arch D or subtracting the same amount from Arch E. Printer manufacturer recognize it as wide-format.[24] An intermediate size between Arch C and D with a long side of 30 inches (760 mm) does not exist.

US architectural standard paper sizes[34]
Names inch × inch mm × mm AR
Arch A Arch 1 9 × 12 229 × 305 4∶3
Arch B Arch 2 12 × 18 305 × 457 3∶2
Arch C Arch 3 18 × 24 457 × 610 4∶3
Arch D Arch 4 24 × 36 610 × 914 3∶2
Arch E1 Arch 5 30 × 42 762 × 1070 7∶5
Arch E2[24] 26 × 38 660 × 965 1.46
Arch E3[24] 27 × 39 686 × 991 13∶9
Arch E Arch 6 36 × 48 914 × 1220 4∶3

Demitab

[edit]

The demitab or demi-tab (a portmanteau of the French word 'demi' [half] and 'tabloid') is 8 in × 10+12 in (203 mm × 267 mm), i.e. roughly one half of a sheet of 11 in × 17 in (279 mm × 432 mm) tabloid-size paper.[35]

"Demitab", "broadsheet" or "tabloid" format newspapers are not necessarily printed on paper measuring exactly their nominal size.

Notebook sizes

[edit]

The sizes listed above are for paper sold loose in reams. There are many sizes of tablets of paper, that is, sheets of paper bound at one edge, usually by a strip of plastic or hardened PVA adhesive. Often there is a pad of cardboard (also known as paperboard or greyboard) at the bottom of the stack. Such a tablet serves as a portable writing surface, and the sheets often have lines printed on them, usually in non-repro blue, to make writing in a line easier. An older means of binding is to have the sheets stapled to the cardboard along the top of the tablet; there is a line of perforated holes across every page just below the top edge from which any page may be torn off. Lastly, a pad of sheets each weakly stuck with adhesive to the sheet below, trademarked as "Post-It" or "Stick-Em" and available in various sizes, serve as a sort of tablet.

"Letter pads" are 8+12 in × 11 in (220 mm × 280 mm), while the term "legal pad" is often used by laymen to refer to pads of various sizes including those of 8+12 in × 14 in (220 mm × 360 mm). Stenographers use "steno pads" of 6 in × 9 in (150 mm × 230 mm). The steno pad size is also used by Scholastic Corporation as the textblock size of their hardcover editions of the Harry Potter novels, with paperback editions using DIN D6.

Envelope sizes

[edit]
US envelopes[24]
Name inch × inch mm × mm AR
Personal 3+58 × 6+12 92.1 × 165 1.79
Monarch 3+78 × 7+12 98.4 × 191 1.94
A2 4+38 × 5+34 111 × 146 1.31
#9 3+78 × 8+78 98.4 × 225 2.29
#10, Commercial 4+18 × 9+12 105 × 241 2.3
#11 4+12 × 10+38 114 × 264 2.31
#12 4+34 × 11 121 × 279 2.32
#14 5 × 11+12 127 × 292 2.3
US Postal Service size limitations, height × width × thickness[36]
Mail piece inch × inch × inch mm × mm × mm
Minimum 3+12 × 5 × 0.009 88.9 × 127 × 0.229
Postcard maximum 4+14 × 6 × 0.016 108 × 152 × 0.406
Letter maximum 6+18 × 11+12 × 14 156 × 292 × 6.35
Flat-size maximum 12 × 15 × 34 305 × 381 × 19.1

This implies that all postcards have an aspect ratio in the range from 20∶17 = 1.18 to 12∶7 = 1.71, but the machinable aspect ratio is further restricted to a minimum of 1.30. The only ISO 216 size in the US postcard range is A6. The theoretical maximum aspect ratio for enveloped letters is 23∶7 = 3.29, but is explicitly limited to 2.50.

Personal organizer sizes

[edit]
US personal organizers
Company Name inch × inch mm × mm Holes
Filofax[37] M2 2+12 × 4 63.5 × 102 3 holes
Mini 2+58 × 4+18 66.7 × 105 5 holes
Pocket 3+16 × 4+34 80.4 × 121 6 holes
Personal, Slimline 3+34 × 6+34 95.2 × 171 6 holes
A5 (5+1316 × 8+932) 148 × 210 6 holes
Deskfax (B5) (6+1516 × 9+2732) 176 × 250 9 holes
A4 (8+932 × 11+1116) 210 × 297 4 holes
Franklin Planner[38] Micro (18-Letter) 2+58 × 4+14 66.7 × 108
Pocket 3+12 × 6 88.9 × 152
Compact 4+14 × 6+34 108 × 171
Classic (12-Letter) 5+12 × 8+12 140 × 216
Monarch (Letter) 8+12 × 11 216 × 279
Jeppesen Aeronautical Chart (12-Letter) 5+12 × 8+12 140 × 216 7 holes; FAA: 3 holes at top

Index card sizes

[edit]
US index cards
inch × inch mm × mm AR
3 × 5 76.2 × 127 5∶3
4 × 6 102 × 152 3∶2
5 × 8 127 × 203 8∶5
6 × 8 152 × 203 4∶3

Photography sizes

[edit]
US photographic paper sizes
Name inch × inch mm × mm AR
2R 2+12 × 3+12 63.5 × 88.9 7∶5
- 3 × 5 76.2 × 127 5∶3
LD, DSC 3+12 × 4+23 88.9 × 119 4∶3
3R, L 3+12 × 5 88.9 × 127 10∶7
LW 3+12 × 5+14 88.9 × 133 3∶2
KGD 4 × 5+13 102 × 135 4∶3
4R, KG 4 × 6 102 × 152 3∶2
2LD, DSCW 5 × 6+23 127 × 169 4∶3
5R, 2L 5 × 7 127 × 178 7∶5
2LW 5 × 7+12 127 × 191 3∶2
6R 6 × 8 152 × 203 4∶3
8R, 6P 8 × 10 203 × 254 5∶4
S8R, 6PW 8 × 12 203 × 305 3∶2
11R 11 × 14 279 × 356 1.27
A3+, Super B 13 × 19 330 × 483 1.46

Grain

[edit]

Most industry standards express the direction of the grain last when giving dimensions (that is, 17 × 11 inches is short grain paper and 11 × 17 inches is long grain paper), although alternatively the grain alignment can be explicitly indicated with an underline (11 × 17 is a short grain) or the letter "M" for "machine" (11M × 17 is a short grain). Grain is important because the paper will crack if folded across the grain: for example, if a sheet 17 × 11 inches is to be folded to divide the sheet into two 8.5 × 11 halves, then the grain will be along the 11-inch side.[39] Paper intended to be fed into a machine that will bend the paper around rollers, such as a printing press, photocopier or typewriter, should be fed grain edge first so that the axis of the rollers is along the grain.

Traditional inch-based paper sizes

[edit]
Traditional and standardized paper formats still relevant in the US

Traditionally, a number of different sizes were defined for large sheets of paper, and paper sizes were defined by the sheet name and the number of times it had been folded. Thus a full sheet of "royal" paper was 25 × 20 inches, and "royal octavo" was this size folded three times, so as to make eight sheets, and was thus 10 × 6+14 inches. Royal sizes were used for posters and billboards.

Common divisions and their abbreviations
Name Abbr. Folds Leaves Pages
Folio fo, f 1 2 4
Quarto 4to 2 4 8
Sexto, sixmo 6to, 6mo 3 6 12
Octavo 8vo 3 8 16
Duodecimo, twelvemo 12mo 4 12 24
Sextodecimo, sixteenmo 16mo 4 16 32

Imperial sizes were used in the United Kingdom and its territories and some survived in US book printing.

Imperial paper sizes
Name Variant inch × inch mm × mm AR
Emperor UK 48 × 72 1220 × 1830 1.5
Quad Royal US 40 × 50 1020 × 1270 1.25
Quad Demy US 35 × 45 889 × 1140 1.2857
Antiquarian UK 31 × 53 787 × 1350 1.7097
Grand Eagle UK 28+34 × 42 730 × 1070 1.4609
Double Elephant UK 26+34 × 40 679 × 1020 1.4984
Atlas UK 26 × 34 660 × 864 1.3077
Double Royal US 25 × 40 635 × 1020 1.6
Colombier UK 23+12 × 34+12 597 × 876 1.4681
Double Demy UK 22+12 × 35+12 572 × 902 1.57
US 22+12 × 35 572 × 889 1.5
Imperial UK 22 × 30 559 × 762 1.3636
Double Large Post UK 21 × 33 533 × 838 1.5713
Elephant both 23 × 28 584 × 711 1.2174
Princess UK 22+12 × 28 572 × 711 1.3023
Cartridge UK 21 × 26 533 × 660 1.2381
Royal both 20 × 25 508 × 635 1.25
Sheet, Half Post UK 19+12 × 23+12 495 × 597 1.2051
Double Post UK 19 × 30+12 483 × 775 1.6052
Super Royal UK 19 × 27 483 × 686 1.4203
Broadsheet US 18 × 24 457 × 610 1.3
Medium UK 17+12 × 23 444 × 584 1.2425
US 18 × 23 457 × 584 1.27
Demy both 17+12 × 22+12 444 × 572 1.2857
Copy Draught UK 16 × 20 406 × 508 1.25
Large Post UK 15+12 × 20 394 × 508 1.2903
US 16+12 × 21 419 × 533 1.27
Post UK 15+12 × 19+14 394 × 489 1.2419
US 15+12 × 19+12 394 × 495 1.2581
Crown both 15 × 20 381 × 508 1.3
Pinched Post UK 14+34 × 18+12 375 × 470 1.2533
Foolscap UK 13 × 16 330 × 406 1.2303
US 13+12 × 17 343 × 432 1.2595
Foolscap Folio UK 13 × 8 330 × 203 1.6256
US 13+12 × 8+12 343 × 216 1.5880
Small Foolscap UK 13+14 × 16+12 337 × 419 1.2453
Brief UK 13+12 × 16 343 × 406 1.1852
Pott UK 12+12 × 15 317 × 381 1.2
Quarto US 9 × 11 229 × 279 1.2
Executive, Monarch US 7+14 × 10+12 184 × 267 1.4483

Traditional British paper sizes

[edit]

Traditional British paper sizes are referred to by the number of sheets that can be cut from a sheet of uncut paper.[40] The standard Imperial uncut paper sizes used in offices and schools were "foolscap", "post", and "copy". Each uncut sheet can then be halved into folios, quartered into quartos, or eighthed into octavos.

British Imperial paper sizes[40]
Name inch × inch mm × mm AR
Foolscap 13.25 × 16.5 337 × 419 5∶4
Foolscap Folio (Folio) 8 × 13 203 × 330 1.63
Foolscap Quarto (Kings) 6.5 × 8 165 × 203 1.23
Foolscap Octavo 4 × 6.5 102 × 165 1.63
Post 15 × 19 381 × 483 1.27
Post Folio 9.5 × 15 241 × 381 1.58
Post Quarto (Imperial) 7 × 9 178 × 229 1.29
Post Octavo 4.5 × 7 114 × 178 14∶9
Copy 16 × 20 406 × 508 5∶4
Copy Folio 10 × 16 254 × 406 8∶5
Copy Quarto (Quarto) 8 × 10 203 × 254 5∶4
Copy Octavo 5 × 8 127 × 203 8∶5

Traditional French paper sizes

[edit]

Before the adoption of the ISO standard system in 1967, France had its own paper size system. Raisin format is still in use today for artistic paper. All are standardized by the AFNOR.[41] Their names come from the watermarks that the papers were branded with when they were handcrafted, which is still the case for certain art papers. They also generally exist in double versions where the smallest measure is multiplied by two, or in quadruple versions where both measures have been doubled.

AFNOR paper sizes
Name Format (cm × cm) Use
Cloche 30 × 40
Pot, écolier 31 × 40
Tellière 34 × 44 old French administration
Couronne écriture 36 × 46
Couronne édition 37 × 47
Roberto 39 × 50 anatomic drawing
Écu 40 × 52
Coquille 44 × 56
Carré 45 × 56
Cavalier 46 × 62
Demi-raisin 32,5 × 50 drawing
Raisin 50 × 65 drawing
Double raisin 65 × 100
Jésus 56 × 76 Atlas des sentiers et chemins vicinaux
Soleil 60 × 80
Colombier affiche 60 × 80
Colombier commercial 63 × 90
Petit Aigle 70 × 94
Grand Aigle 75 × 105 Plans cadastraux primitifs
(Napoleonic land registry)
75 × 106[42]
75 × 110[43]
Grand Monde 90 × 126
Univers 100 × 130

Business card sizes

[edit]
Common business card sizes
Origin mm × mm inch × inch AR
A8 74 × 52 2+1516 × 2+116 √2
B8 88 × 62 3+49 × 2+49 √2
C8 81 × 57 3+316 × 2+14 √2
Iranian 85 × 48 3+13 × 1+89 1.771
Western Europe 85 × 55 3+13 × 2+16 17∶11
International 86 × 54 3+38 × 2+18 27∶17
North America 89 × 51 3+12 × 2 7∶4
Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, South America 90 × 50 3+916 × 2 9∶5
East Asia 90 × 54 3+916 × 2+18 5∶3
Scandinavia, Southeast Asia, Oceania 90 × 55 3+916 × 2+16 18∶11
Japan 91 × 55 3+712 × 2+16 1.654

The international business card has the size of the smallest rectangle containing a credit card rounded to full millimeters, but in Western Europe, it is rounded to half centimetres (rounded up in Northern Europe), in Eastern Europe to full centimetres, in North America to half inches. However, credit card size, as defined in ISO/IEC 7810, also specifies rounded corners and thickness.

Newspaper sizes

[edit]
Comparison of some newspaper sizes with metric paper sizes. Approximate nominal dimensions are in millimetres.

Newspapers have a separate set of sizes.

In a recent trend[44] many newspapers have been undergoing what is known as "web cut down", in which the publication is redesigned to print using a narrower (and less expensive) roll of paper. In extreme examples, some broadsheet papers are nearly as narrow as traditional tabloids.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Belize, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Philippines, Puerto Rico, United States, Venezuela according to "Territory Information". CLDR. 31. Archived from the original on 2018-06-20. Retrieved 2018-03-24., which is a data collection used by almost all software manufacturers.
  2. ^ a b "size". Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  3. ^ "Lichtenberg's letter to Johann Beckmann". Markus Kuhn. 2006-02-07. Archived from the original on 2011-12-31. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
  4. ^ "Loi sur le timbre (Nº 2136)" [Stamp Act (No. 2136)]. Bulletin des Lois de la République (in French) (237). Paris: Republic of France: 1–2. 1798-11-03. Archived from the original on 2009-04-26. Retrieved 2024-01-20 – via Markus Kuhn.
  5. ^ Metrication Board (1980). "Final report of the Metrication Board" (PDF). Department of Trade and Industry Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-01. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  6. ^ "A Paper Sizes - A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10". Archived from the original on 2016-10-29. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  7. ^ "B Paper Sizes - B0, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, B10". Archived from the original on 2016-12-04. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  8. ^ "Envelope Sizes - ISO C Series & DL Envelopes". Archived from the original on 2016-12-04. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  9. ^ "Papper—Formatserier A-G". Svensk standard SS 01 47 11 Utgåva 2. Swedish Standards Institute. Page 2 Figur 1 - Serieformaten exemplifierade. Archived from the original on 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2019-12-25.(subscription required)
  10. ^ "Typography and readability – a guideline" (PDF). Karolinska University Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
  11. ^ Barber, Dave (2012-05-08). "International paper sizes. A, B, C and D series". Archived from the original on 2014-07-01.
  12. ^ "国家标准 | GB/T 148-1997". Standardization Administration of China. 1997-05-26. Archived from the original on 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  13. ^ SP 46 (2003): Engineering Drawing Practice for Schools and Colleges (PDF). Bureau of Indian Standards. Jul 2003. ISBN 81-7061-019-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-09-09.
  14. ^ Митяев, К. Г. (1946). "Теория и практика архивного дела" [Theory and practice of archiving] (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-02-08. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  15. ^ "Formaty" Форматы [Formats]. Мир Сварки (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2017-12-02. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
  16. ^ "Formaty (ESKD GOST 2.301-68)" Форматы (ЕСКД ГОСТ 2.301-68) [Formats]. Единая Система Конструкторской Документации (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
  17. ^ "ISO 5457:1999". ISO.
  18. ^ Apple iTunes Store (2019). "Music Digital Booklet Profile". iTunes Video and Audio Asset Guide.
  19. ^ "CAN2-200.2-M79: "Common Image Area for Paper Sizes P4 and A4"". 1979-04-01. Archived from the original on 2017-09-07. (NB. Withdrawn 1 March 2012.)
  20. ^ Wilhelm Ostwald (1911-10-18). "Die Weltformate: I. Für Drucksachen". Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel. No. 243. Ansbach: Seybold. p. 12330. OCLC 255038683.
  21. ^ Karl Wilhelm Bührer (1912). Raumnot und Weltformat: Schriften über Die Brücke. Vol. Band 2. München / Ansbach: Seybold. OCLC 253384402.
  22. ^ APG|SGA: Templates and specifications
  23. ^ Consuegra, David (1992). En busca del cuadrado. Bogotá: Editorial Universidad Nacional de Colombia. pp. 84–85. ISBN 9789581700882. Retrieved 2023-04-19.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "IEEE-ISTO PWG 5101.1-2013 "PWG Media Standardized Names 2.0"" (PDF). Alt URL
  25. ^ a b Adobe Systems Incorporated (1996-02-09). "PostScript Printer Description File Format Specification" (PDF) (4.3 ed.). San Jose, California. p. 191. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2008-03-06.[better source needed]
  26. ^ "Government Legal Size". mainthebest.
  27. ^ a b "Why is the standard paper size in the U.S. 8 1/2" x 11"?". American Forest and Paper Association. Archived from the original on 2012-02-20. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
  28. ^ "Junior Legal Paper Size". Dimensions Guide. Archived from the original on 2010-07-04. Retrieved 2010-02-21.
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  30. ^ "Armada mil". Archived from the original on 2011-05-24. Retrieved 2010-12-12.
  31. ^ de Leon, Rally. "Request for inclusion of Page Size 8.5"×13"". Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  32. ^ Kuhn, Markus. "International standard paper sizes". Archived from the original on 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  33. ^
    Canadian custom paper size standards
    Number Title Original CAN2 release CAN/CGSB replacement Withdrawal
    9.60 Paper Sizes for Correspondence 1976-04 1994-07 2012-04
    9.61 Paper Sizes for Printing 1976-04 1994-07
    9.62 Paper Sizes for Single Part Continuous Business Forms 1981-12 1994-07
    9.64 Drawing Sheet Sizes 1979-04 1994-07
    200.2 Common Image Area for Paper Sizes P4 and A4 1979-04 2012-03
  34. ^ "Technical drawing paper sizes in the United States". Archived from the original on 2016-10-08. at sizes.com
  35. ^ "Maximum Image Area for printing at Horizon Publications". Horizon Publications. Archived from the original on 2008-10-09. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  36. ^ "Section 6.3.2: Postcard Dimensions". DMM 101: Physical Standards. United States Postal Service. Archived from the original on 2014-04-26. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
  37. ^ "Filofax". Archived from the original on 2010-09-27.
  38. ^ "Franklin Planner". Archived from the original on 2018-08-01. Retrieved 2019-04-28.
  39. ^ "Paper Grain & Smoothness: Don't Go Against the Grain". Xerox Corp. Archived from the original on 2013-04-25. Retrieved 2013-05-10. A paper mill may indicate paper grain on carton and ream labels, product brochures, swatch books and price lists in several ways:
    1. You may see the words Grain Long or Grain Short.
    2. The dimension parallel to the grain may be underscored. For example, 8.5x11 indicates long grain, while 11×17 indicates short grain.
    3. 'M' may be used to indicate machine direction, for example, 11M×17 indicates short grain.
    Fold paper parallel to the grain direction. Paper folded against the grain may be rough and crack along the folded edge. The heavier the paper, the more likely roughness and cracking will occur.
  40. ^ a b "British Imperial Paper Sizes". PaperSizes.org. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  41. ^ Norme NF Q 02-000: Dimensions des papiers d'écriture et de certaines catégories de papiers d'impression (in French). Association française de normalisation.
  42. ^ "AIGLE: Définition de AIGLE" (in French). Centre national de ressources textuelles et lexicales (CNRTL). Archived from the original on 2015-05-22. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  43. ^ "L'origine des noms de papier" (in French). Archived from the original on 2006-03-19.
  44. ^ "Press web". Naa.org. Archived from the original on 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2010-12-12.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]