ISO A4
8.3 x 11.7 in CMYK 1.41:1 portrait
An 8.3 by 11.7 in ISO A4 sheet. The default paper size in most of the world, and the building block of the ISO 216 A-series.
about the size of a sheet of office paper
About this size
A4 is defined by a single mathematical idea. The sheet has a width-to-height ratio of 1 to the square root of 2, which means that folding it in half across the long edge produces two sheets with the exact same proportions. Two A5s stack into an A4. Two A4s stack into an A3. The series climbs and falls without ever changing shape, and A0 is anchored at exactly one square metre of area.
That property is why A4 is used everywhere that scaling and folding matter: documents that need to be printed in bulk and bound, books, posters that have to halve cleanly into handouts, zines that have to be cut and stapled without losing layout. Outside North America, A4 is what comes out of every office printer. Inside North America, US Letter wins instead, and the two are close enough that layouts often look right but rarely print right when swapped.
- Worksheets
- Letters
- Printable drawings
Pro tips
- 1 For home and office printers, leave at least 0.25 in of margin on every side. Most consumer printers cannot lay ink to the edge of the page.
- 2 Bleed is for commercial print only. 0.125 in past the trim is the North American standard; 3 mm is the international standard. Add it when the design runs to the edge and the job is going to a press.
- 3 Keep body text at 9 pt or larger when the page is meant to be read. Smaller looks delicate on screen but stops being comfortable in print.
- 4 Confirm with your audience before assuming they print on A4. North America defaults to Letter; sending an A4 PDF to a US recipient gets cropped or scaled on print.
Common mistakes
- Treating A4 and US Letter as interchangeable. A4 is narrower and taller. Page breaks, paragraph wraps, and headers all shift between them.
- Running artwork to the trim edge without adding bleed. The trim is precise but not perfect, and any sliver of white that appears where the cut lands inside the design reads as an error.
- Designing in pixels without committing to a print DPI. At 300 DPI an A4 is 2480 by 3508 px; at 150 DPI it is 1240 by 1754. Decide first, then design.
Frequently asked
Is A4 the same as US Letter?
No. A4 is 8.3 by 11.7 in; Letter is 8.5 by 11 in. Letter is wider, A4 is taller. The total areas are close but layouts shift visibly between the two.
What DPI should A4 artwork use?
300 DPI for commercial print and anything with critical typography. 150 DPI is acceptable for casual home printing or large-format poster work viewed from distance.
What is A4 in pixels?
2480 by 3508 at 300 DPI. 1240 by 1754 at 150 DPI. 595 by 842 at 72 DPI.
Same series — ISO A-Series
Rendered at relative scale; tap any size to open it.
Compare with
Sizes often weighed alongside ISO A4. Open a side-by-side breakdown.
Related templates
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ISO A3
ISO A3 is a 11.7 x 16.5 in Sketchpad template for paper & print projects.
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ISO A5 is a 5.8 x 8.3 in Sketchpad template for paper & print projects.
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US Letter is a 8.5 x 11 in Sketchpad template for paper & print projects.
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