Paper 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 everywhere except in North America and parts of Central and South America, where North American paper sizes such as "Letter" and "Legal" are used. The international standard for envelopes is the [|C series] of ISO 269.

International paper sizes

The international paper size standard is ISO 216. It is based on the German DIN 476 standard for paper sizes. 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 : A3, A4, A5, B4, B5.

[|A] series

The aspect ratio of A format is, letting a be the long side and b be the short side:
In fact, the original definition of the ISO base size of paper "A0" is defined as having an area of 1 m and a dimension ratio of 1 to, making the A0 paper size exactly.
Rounded to the nearest millimetre, A0 is the format.
Successive paper sizes in the series A1, A2, A3, and so forth, are defined by halving the preceding paper size across the larger dimension. This also effectively halves the area of each sheet. The most frequently used paper size is A4 measuring.
The significant advantage of this system is its scaling: if a sheet with an aspect ratio of is divided into two equal halves parallel to its shortest sides, then the halves will again have an aspect ratio of. Folded brochures of any size can be made by using sheets of the next larger size, e.g. A4 sheets are folded to make A5 brochures. The system allows scaling without compromising the aspect ratio from one size to another—as provided by office photocopiers, e.g. enlarging A4 to A3 or reducing A3 to A4. Similarly, two sheets of A4 can be scaled down and fit exactly on one sheet without any cutoff or margins.
The behavior of the aspect ratio is easily proven. On a sheet of paper, let a be the long side and b be the short side. Since
the aspect ratio for the new dimensions of the folded paper is
Thus folding the paper preserves the aspect ratio.
Weights are easy to calculate as well: a standard A4 sheet made from 80 g/m paper weighs 5 g, allowing one to easily compute the weight—and associated postage rate—by counting the number of sheets used.
The advantages of basing a paper size upon an aspect ratio of were first noted in 1786 by the German scientist and philosopher Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. The formats that became A2, A3, B3, B4 and B5 were developed in France on proposition of the mathematician Lazare Carnot and published for judiciary purpose in 1798 during the French Revolution. Early in the 20th century, Dr Walter Porstmann turned Lichtenberg's idea into a proper system of different paper sizes. Porstmann's system was introduced as a DIN standard in Germany in 1922, replacing a vast variety of other paper formats. Even today, the paper sizes are called "DIN A4" 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:
During World War II, the standard was adopted by Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, 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.

[|B series]

The [|B] series paper sizes are less common than the A series. They have the same aspect ratio of 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 0.707 m. 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 one of its sides meters long. 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 special applications.
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.

[|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 and C4 paper fits inside a B4 envelope.
Some envelope formats with mixed sides from adjacent sizes are also defined in national adaptations of the ISO standard, e.g. DIN C6/C5 is 114 mm × 229 mm where the common side to C5 and C6 is 162 mm.

Overview of ISO paper sizes

The α 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 is formed by all possible paper dimensions of the series arranged in a decreasing order. This interesting arrangement of dimensions is also very useful - not only it forms a geometric progression with easy to remember formulae, it also has that each consecutive pair of values will automatically correspond to the dimensions of a standard paper format in the series.
The tolerances specified in the standard are
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.
The smallest formats specified originally were A13 and B13, which were reduced to x10 in the 1930 edition, as well as C8 and D8; C9 and C10 have been added in the 1976 revision for compatibility with photography sizes: C8 closely matches 6×9 photos, C9 and C10 closely match 7×7 and 5×5 slides, respectively.
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 as well: "The rarely used sizes which follow also belong to this series."
Namemm × mminch × inch
4A0-
2A0-

DIN 476 also used to specify slightly tighter tolerances than ISO 216:
The Swedish standard SIS 01 47 11 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. 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.
Of these additional formats, G5 and E5 are popular in Sweden and the Netherlands for printing dissertations, 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.
DesignationShorter edgeLonger edge
Anr−4 × snr+4 × sn
Enr−3 × snr+5 × sn
Cnr−2 × snr+6 × sn
Gnr−1 × snr+7 × sn
Bnr 0 × snr+8 × sn
Fnr+1 × snr+9 × sn
Dnr+2 × snr+10 × sn
*Hnr+3 × snr+11 × sn
Ar+4 × snr+12 × sn

nAECGBFD*H
0841 × 1189878 × 1242917 × 1297958 × 13541000 × 14141044 × 14771091 × 15421139 × 1610
1595 × 841621 × 878648 × 917677 × 958707 × 1000738 × 1044771 × 1091805 × 1139
2420 × 595439 × 621459 × 648479 × 677500 × 707522 × 738545 × 771569 × 805
3297 × 420310 × 439324 × 459339 × 479354 × 500369 × 522386 × 545403 × 569
4210 × 297220 × 310229 × 324239 × 339250 × 354261 × 369273 × 386285 × 403
5149 × 210155 × 220162 × 229169 × 239177 × 250185 × 261193 × 273201 × 285
6105 × 149110 × 155115 × 162120 × 169125 × 177131 × 185136 × 193142 × 201
774 × 10578 × 11081 × 11585 × 12088 × 12592 × 13196 × 136101 × 142
853 × 7455 × 7857 × 8160 × 8563 × 8865 × 9268 × 9671 × 101
937 × 5339 × 5541 × 5742 × 6044 × 6346 × 6548 × 6850 × 71
1026 × 3727 × 3929 × 4130 × 4231 × 4433 × 4634 × 4836 × 50

Japanese variation

The Japanese standard JIS P 0138 defines two main series of paper sizes. The JIS A-series is identical to the [|ISO A-series], but with slightly different tolerances. The area of B-series paper is 1.5 times that of the corresponding A-paper, 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 A-series paper. Both A- and B-series paper is 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 only supports the most popular sizes, JIS-B4 and JIS-B5.
Sizemm × mminch × inch
0-
1-
2-
3-
4-
5-
6-
7-
8-
9-
10-
11-
12-

Sizemm × mminch × inchAR
A--
B--
Shiroku-ban --
Kiku-ban --
--

A popular size for books, dubbed AB, combines the shorter edges of A4 and B4. Another two with an aspect ratio approximating are 20% narrower variants of A6 and B6, respectively, the latter resulting from cutting B1 into sheets.
There are also a number of traditional paper sizes, which are now used mostly by printers. The most common of these old series are the Shiroku-ban and the Kiku paper sizes.
Sizemm × mminch × inchAR
AB--
B40--
35--
Shiroku-ban--
Shiroku-ban--
Shiroku-ban--
Kiku-ban--
Kiku-ban--
Kiku-ban--
Kiku-ban--

Chinese extensions

The Chinese standard GB/T 148–1997, 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. The D series is not identical to the 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 a size is always 4 mm longer than the long side of the next smaller size. The long side of a size is always exactly - i.e. without further rounding - twice as long as the short side of the next smaller size.

Soviet variants

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 roughly corresponded to B1 and, more importantly, had slightly different sizes:
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 ½, ¼ and ⅛ prefixes for halving the shorter side for stripe formats, e.g. ½A4 = 105 mm × 297 mm.
A standard for technical drawings from 1960, GOST 3450, 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 is multiplied by and the second digit is the one for the shorter side, so "24" is 2×297 mm × 4×210 mm = 594 mm × 840 mm.
n×2×3×4×5×6
A0841×11891682×11892523×11893364×11894204×11895045×1189
A1594×841= A01784×8412378×8412973×8413568×841
A2420×594= A11261×5951682×5952102×5952523×595
A3297×420= A2892×4201189×4201487×4201784×420
A4210×297= A3631×297841×2971051×2971261×297
A5148×210= A4446×210595×210743×210892×210

GOST 3450 from 1960 was replaced by ESKD GOST 2301 in 1968, 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.

International envelope and insert sizes

Namemm × mminch × inchARNotes
A4common flyer or stripe size--
unnamedstandard folded size of German letters--

DIN 5008 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.
Namemm × mminch × inchARContentNotes
DLA4, DIN 5008 A and Bdesignated long, "DIN lang" ; sometimes erroneously called "DLE", apparently for envelope, instead--
C6/C5A4, DIN 5008 A and Bcommon edge of C6 and C5 is 161 mm;
sometimes called "Postfix", "DL+" or "DL Max", but those terms are not standardized		--
ItalianA4, DIN 5008 A and B--
C7/C6A5common edge of C7 and C6 is 114 mm--
B6/C4B6 is, C4 is --
Invitesquare card with edge of A4 and A5, 210 mm--
DIN E4listed in DIN 476–2, but not part of a series proper--

International raw sizes

rawmm × mminch × inchspecial rawmm × mminch × inchuntrimmedmm × mminch × inchtrimmedmm × mminch × inchmm × mminch × inch
RA0SRA0A0UA0T-----
RA1SRA1A1UA1T-----
RA2SRA2A2UA2T-----
RA3SRA3A3UA3T-----
SRA4A4UA4T-----

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 centimeter. 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 equipment. Specifically, 12 inches were considered an untrimmed variant of the A4 height of 297 mm.

Transitional paper sizes

PA4 or L4

Namemm × mminch × inchAR
PA0--
PA1--
PA2--
PA3--
PA4--
PA5--
PA6--
PA7--
PA8--
PA9--
PA10--

A transitional size called PA4, sometimes dubbed L4, was proposed for inclusion into the ISO 216 standard in 1975. It has the height of Canadian P4 paper and the width of international A4 paper, 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. 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 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 it is not as much a paper size than a page format. Apple, for instance, requires this format for digital music album booklets.
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".

F4

Namemm × mminch × inchAR
F0--
F1--
F2--
F3--
F4--
F5--
F6--
F7--
F8--
F9--
F10--

A non-standard F4 paper size is common in Southeast Asia. It is a transitional size with the shorter side from ISO A4 and the longer side from British [|Foolscap] and is sometimes known as foolscap or folio as well. It is exactly, i.e. 33 mm, longer than A4 or, conversely, A4 is exactly 90% the height of F4.
In Indonesia and the Philippines, "F4" paper is slightly broader: 215 × 330 mm, i.e. basically Foolscap 8.5 × 13 in. In Indonesia it is sometimes called folio, while in Philippines it is sometimes also called long bond.
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.

A0a

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",, as listed above, but given in the New Metric Handbook as 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 was used in Britain, which is actually just a slightly shorter version of ISO B0 at 1414 mm.

Pliego

Sizemm × mminch × inchAR
Pliego--
pliego--
pliego--
pliego--

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 cut to full decimetres. Smaller sizes are derived by halving as usual and just get a vulgar fraction prefix: pliego and pliego.

North American paper sizes

Inch-based loose sizes

The United States, Canada, and the Philippines 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. Some traditional North American inch-based sizes differ from the [|Imperial British sizes] described below.

Common American loose sizes

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.
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 paper making, and that the 11-inch length of the page is about a quarter of "the average maximum stretch of an experienced vatman's arms." However, this does not explain the width or aspect ratio.
Outside of North America, Letter size may also be known as "American Quarto". If one accepts some trimming, the size is indeed one quarter of the old Imperial paper size known as Demy,. Printer manufacturers, however, recognize inch-based Quarto as long.

Usage and adoption

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 and Chile. The latter use US Letter, but their Legal size is one inch shorter than its US equivalent.
Mexico and Colombia, for instance, have adopted the ISO standard, but US Letter format is still the system in use throughout the country. It is virtually impossible to encounter ISO standard papers in day-to-day uses, with Carta, Oficio and Doble carta being nearly universal.
Printer manufacturers, however, recognize Oficio as long.
In Canada, US paper sizes are a de facto standard. The government, however, also uses ISO paper sizes.

Variant American loose sizes

There is an additional paper size,, to which the name Government-Letter was given by the IEEE Printer Working Group. 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 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 paper in their bins. Ronald Reagan therefore had the US government switch to regular Letter size, which is both half an inch longer and wider. 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,, meets the needs of many applications. It is variably known as Statement, Stationery, Memo, Half Letter, Half A or simply Half Size. 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.
Curiously, a foot-long sheet with the common width of Letter and Legal, i.e., 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. This size is sometimes known as European Fanfold.

Standardized American paper sizes

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 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 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. All custom Canadian paper size standards were withdrawn in 2012.
With care, documents can be prepared so that the text and images fit on either ANSI or their equivalent ISO sheets at 1:1 reproduction scale.
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 with ca. 1.4286:1; it is commonly required for NAVFAC drawings, but is generally less commonly used. Engineering G size is high, but it is a roll format with a variable width up to in increments of. 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 and computer-aided manufacturing. 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

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 are ratios of small integers, unlike their ANSI 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. An intermediate size between Arch C and D with a long side of does not exist.

Notebook sizes

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 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, while the term "legal pad" is often used by laymen to refer to pads of various sizes including those of. Stenographers use "steno pads" of.

Envelope sizes

Nameinch × inchmm × mmAR
Personal--
Monarch--
A2--
#9--
#10, Commercial--
#11--
#12--
#14--

Mail pieceinch × inch × inchmm × mm × mm
Minimum-
Postcard maximum-
Letter maximum-
Flat-size maximum-

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

Personal organizer sizes

CompanyNameinch × inchmm × mmHoles
FilofaxM23 holes-
FilofaxMini5 holes-
FilofaxPocket6 holes-
FilofaxPersonal, Slimline6 holes-
FilofaxA5176 × 2509 holes
FilofaxA4210 × 2974 holes
Franklin PlannerMicro -
Franklin PlannerPocket-
Franklin PlannerCompact-
Franklin PlannerClassic -
Franklin PlannerMonarch -
JeppesenAeronautical Chart 7 holes; FAA: 3 holes at top-

Index card sizes

inch × inchmm × mmAR
--
--
--
--

Photography sizes

Nameinch × inchmm × mmAR
2R--
---
LD, DSC--
3R, L--
LW--
KGD--
4R, KG--
2LD, DSCW--
5R, 2L--
2LW--
6R--
8R, 6P--
S8R, 6PW--
11R--
A3+, Super B--

Grain

Most industry standards express the direction of the grain last when giving dimensions, although alternatively the grain alignment can be explicitly indicated with an underline or the letter "M" for "machine". Grain is important because 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. 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.

Demitab

The demitab or demi-tab is either or , i.e. either one quarter or one half of a sheet of [|tabloid-size] paper.
Neither demitab, broadsheet nor tabloid newspapers are necessarily printed on paper measuring exactly its nominal size.

Traditional inch-based paper sizes

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 × inches. Royal sizes were used for posters and billboards.
NameAbbr.FoldsLeavesPages
Foliofo, f124
Quarto4to248
Sexto, sixmo6to, 6mo3612
Octavo8vo3816
Duodecimo, twelvemo12mo41224
Sextodecimo, sixteenmo16mo41632

Imperial sizes were used in the United Kingdom and its territories and some survived in US book printing.
NameVariantinch × inchmm × mmAR
EmperorUK1.5-
Quad RoyalUS1.25-
Quad DemyUS1.2857-
AntiquarianUK1.7097-
Grand EagleUK1.4609-
Double ElephantUK1.4984-
AtlasUK1.3077-
Double RoyalUS1.6-
ColombierUK1.4681-
Double DemyUK1.5-
Double DemyUS1.-
ImperialUK1.3636-
Double Large PostUK1.5713-
both1.2174-
PrincessUK1.3023-
CartridgeUK1.2381-
Royalboth1.25-
Sheet, Half PostUK1.2051-
Double PostUK1.6052-
Super RoyalUK1.4203-
BroadsheetUS1.-
MediumUK1.2425-
MediumUS1.2-
Demyboth1.2857-
Copy DraughtUK1.25-
Large PostUK1.2903-
Large PostUS1.-
PostUK1.2419-
PostUS1.2581-
Crownboth1.-
Pinched PostUK1.2533-
FoolscapUK1.2593-
FoolscapUS1.3846-
Small FoolscapUK1.2453-
BriefUK1.1852-
PottUK1.2-
QuartoUS1.-
Executive, MonarchUS1.4483-

Traditional British paper sizes

These sizes are no longer so widely used, since the UK began using ISO sizes.
Many of these sizes were only used for making books, or for publishing plays, or for printing story papers and comics, and most types were not offered for ordinary stationery purposes, with the exception of foolscap.
Nameinch × inchmm × mmAR
Foolscap--
Quarto--
Imperial--
Kings--
Dukes--

Foolscap folio is often referred to simply as "folio" or "foolscap". Similarly, "quarto" is more correctly "copy draught quarto" and "Kings" is an alias for "Foolscap quarto".

Traditional French paper sizes

Before the adoption of the ISO standard system in 1967, France had its own paper size system. Some of these formats are still used today, and they are standardized by the AFNOR. 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.
NameFormat Use
Cloche30 × 40
Pot, écolier31 × 40
Tellière34 × 44old French administration
Couronne écriture36 × 46
Couronne édition37 × 47
Roberto39 × 50anatomic drawing
Écu40 × 52
Coquille44 × 56
Carré45 × 56
Cavalier46 × 62
Demi-raisin32,5 × 50drawing
Raisin50 × 65drawing
Double raisin65 × 100
Jésus56 × 76Atlas des sentiers et chemins vicinaux
Soleil60 × 80
Colombier affiche60 × 80
Colombier commercial63 × 90
Petit Aigle70 × 94
Grand Aigle75 × 105Plans cadastraux primitifs
Grand Aigle75 × 106Plans cadastraux primitifs
Grand Aigle75 × 110Plans cadastraux primitifs
Grand Monde90 × 126
Univers100 × 130

Business card sizes

Originmm × mminch × inchAR
A874 × 52 ×
B888 × 62 ×
C881 × 57 ×
Iranian85 × 48 × 1.771
Western Europe85 × 55 ×
International86 × 54 ×
North America89 × 51 × 2
Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, South America90 × 50 × 2
East Asia90 × 54 ×
Scandinavia, Southeast Asia, Oceania90 × 55 ×
Japan91 × 55 × 1.6

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 centimeters, in Eastern Europe to full centimeters, in North America to half inches. However, credit card size, as defined in ISO/IEC 7810, also specifies rounded corners and thickness.

Newspaper sizes

Newspapers have a separate set of sizes.
In a recent trend many newspapers have been undergoing what is known as "web cut down", in which the publication is redesigned to print using a narrower roll of paper. In extreme examples, some broadsheet papers are nearly as narrow as traditional tabloids.