Paper Sizes in cm, mm and Inches
Pick a size to see its exact dimensions, its pixel size for printing, and how big it really is against your screen.
Paper size viewer
21.0 × 29.7 cm
210 × 297 mm · 8.27 × 11.69 in
The standard office and letter size
Pixel dimensions for printing
| Resolution | Pixels | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 72 DPI | 595 × 842 | Screen / web preview |
| 150 DPI | 1240 × 1754 | Draft and office printing |
| 300 DPI | 2480 × 3508 | Standard print quality |
| 600 DPI | 4961 × 7016 | Fine art and photographic print |
Every paper size in cm, mm and inches
| Size | mm | cm | inches | Commonly used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A0 | 841 × 1189 | 84.1 × 118.9 | 33.11 × 46.81 | Posters, technical drawings |
| A1 | 594 × 841 | 59.4 × 84.1 | 23.39 × 33.11 | Posters, flip charts |
| A2 | 420 × 594 | 42.0 × 59.4 | 16.54 × 23.39 | Large prints, drawings |
| A3 | 297 × 420 | 29.7 × 42.0 | 11.69 × 16.54 | Spreadsheets, drawings, art |
| A4 | 210 × 297 | 21.0 × 29.7 | 8.27 × 11.69 | The standard office and letter size |
| A5 | 148 × 210 | 14.8 × 21.0 | 5.83 × 8.27 | Notebooks, flyers, diaries |
| A6 | 105 × 148 | 10.5 × 14.8 | 4.13 × 5.83 | Postcards, small flyers |
| A7 | 74 × 105 | 7.4 × 10.5 | 2.91 × 4.13 | Tickets, small cards |
| US Letter | 215.9 × 279.4 | 21.6 × 27.9 | 8.50 × 11.00 | The US office standard (8.5 × 11 in) |
| US Legal | 215.9 × 355.6 | 21.6 × 35.6 | 8.50 × 14.00 | Contracts and legal documents (8.5 × 14 in) |
| Tabloid / Ledger | 279.4 × 431.8 | 27.9 × 43.2 | 11.00 × 17.00 | Newspapers, large spreadsheets (11 × 17 in) |
| Executive | 184.15 × 266.7 | 18.4 × 26.7 | 7.25 × 10.50 | Letterheads (7.25 × 10.5 in) |
| Half Letter | 139.7 × 215.9 | 14.0 × 21.6 | 5.50 × 8.50 | Notepads, planners (5.5 × 8.5 in) |
How the A series fits together
Halve an A-series sheet across its long side and you get the next size down, at exactly the same proportions. That is the whole idea behind ISO 216, and it is why scaling A4 artwork up to A3 never leaves an awkward margin.
A4, Letter, and why the difference matters
Most of the world prints on A4, which is 210 × 297 mm, or 21.0 × 29.7 cm. North America prints on US Letter, 215.9 × 279.4 mm. Those two look close enough to be interchangeable and are different enough to ruin a print job. Letter is roughly 6 mm wider and 18 mm shorter. Send an A4 layout to a Letter printer without scaling and the bottom of the page is clipped. Go the other way and the margins come out uneven. If a document has ever emerged from a printer mysteriously cropped, this is usually the reason.
The A series comes from ISO 216 and rests on one elegant rule: every sheet has proportions of 1:√2, so halving one across its long side gives the next size down with exactly the same shape. A0 is defined as one square metre of area and everything follows. A1 is half of A0, A4 is a sixteenth, and scaling artwork between any two A sizes never leaves an awkward margin. US sizes have no such relationship, which is why they scale badly against one another.
One detail worth knowing: the official A-series figures are rounded down to whole millimetres. A4 is quoted as 210 × 297 mm rather than the 210.22 × 297.30 the raw geometry would give. The rounded values are the standard, and they are what printers and software use.
Pixel dimensions for printing
Paper is measured in millimetres, design software works in pixels, and resolution is the bridge between them. At 300 DPI, the normal target for print, A4 is 2480 × 3508 pixels. At 150 DPI, fine for a draft or an office document, it is 1240 × 1754. At 600 DPI, used for fine art and photographic printing, it is 4961 × 7016. The table above gives these for whichever size and orientation you select, so you can set up a canvas at the right dimensions first time.
Working at 72 DPI suits screen previews and nothing else. A file prepared at 72 DPI and sent to print looks soft, because the printer has roughly a quarter of the detail per inch that it needs.
Seeing paper at actual size
Numbers only take you so far when the real question is whether something will fit. The viewer above draws the selected sheet at its true physical size, using the same calibration as the online ruler. Hold a real sheet against the display and it should match edge to edge.
Screen size is the limit, and the tool says so rather than quietly misleading you. A4 in portrait needs about 8.3 inches of screen width, so it fits most laptops and desktop monitors but not a phone. Anything too large, meaning A0 through A2 or Tabloid, is scaled down with the exact percentage stated underneath, so you always know whether you are looking at real size or a reduction. Fullscreen gives the viewer more room to work with. To check what your display can actually accommodate, the screen size checker will tell you.