Paper sizes

 

What size is SRA3? What size is SRA4? We get asked questions like this every day, so we have put together this handy guide.

The British Standards Institute has adopted a standardised system of sizes for printing and writing papers. This new standard was based on the International Standards Organisation (ISO) sizes used in most other countries. This practical and economical system is based on a rectangle with an area of one square metre, referred to as A0 (841 x 1189mm).

In addition there are two other series of sizes included in the system – B and C. The B series of sizes are based on a basic sheet size of (1000 x 1414mm) and these are used mainly for posters, wall charts and some maps. The C series of sizes are based on a basic sheet size of 917 x 1297mm and is used for envelopes. These C series envelope sizes are formulated to take A series paper exactly. For example C4 for A4, C5 for A5 and C6 for A6. One of the most popular envelope sizes, DL, is however an exception to this. The DL designation is derived from the German ‘DIN’ Lang, ‘DIN’ being the German equivalent of the ISO standard and ‘Lang’ meaning long.

All A series paper sub divisions denote the actual finished size of the sheet. Printers often prefer to print on paper that is a little longer than these A sizes to allow printing and finishing machines to ‘grip’ the sheet and allow trimming, to clean up the end product without reducing the final trimmed size. These larger sizes are prefixed ‘R’.

Some work needs even larger sheet sizes to allow printed images to ‘bleed off’ the trimmed size or for large ‘grip’ allowances, or to allow quality control images to be printed in the trim margins.

These sizes are prefixed ‘SR’. A number of derivatives of these standard international sizes are becoming increasingly popular for the economical production of particular formats. This can be a problem i.e. 707 x 1000mm, 720 x 1000mm and 720 x 1020mm can all be described as B1.

Avoid confusion by specifying dimensions required.

A Series – for trimmed work

A0 841 x 1189mm

A1 594 x 841mm

A2 420 x 594mm

A3 297 x 420mm

A4 210 x 297mm

A5 148 x 210mm

A6 105 x 148mm

A7 74 x 105mm

A8 52 x 74mm

A9 37 x 52mm

A10 26 x 37mm

B Series – for larger formats

B0 1000 x 1414mm

B1 707 x 1000mm

B2 500 x 707mm

B3 353 x 500mm

B4 250 x 353mm

B5 176 x 250mm

RA Series – for normal trims

RA0 860 x 1220mm

RA1 610 x 860mm

RA2 430 x 610mm

SRA Series – for bled work

SRA0 900 x 1280mm

SRA1 640 x 900mm

SRA2 450 x 640mm

General Print

Double Medium 585 x 910mm

Double Crown 508 x 762mm

Other commonly used sizes

B2 520 x 720mm

B1 720 x 1020mm