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Paper Sizes

The most common system of paper sizes in Europe is the ISO standard. Most people are familiar with the A series which includes A4 (highlighted on the chart) the usual letterhead size. The C series is for envelopes – A C4 envelope being ideal for holding an A4 sheet. There is also a B series which provides intermediate sizes for the A series but this is rarely used. DL is a special size for envelopes designed to accept A4 paper folded in three. All sizes are given in millimetres.

Sheet
size
A B C RA SRA
0 841 x 1189 1000 x 141 917 x 1296 860 x 1220 900 x 1280
1 594 x 841 707 x 1000 648 x 917 610 x 860 640 x 900
2 420 x 594 500 x 700 458 x 648 430 x 610 450 x 640
3 297 x 420 353 x 500 324 x 458 305 x 430 320 x 450
4 210 x 297 250 x 353 229 x 324 215 x 305 225 x 320
5 148 x 210 176 x 250 162 x 229 152 x 215 160 x 225
6 105 x 148 125 x 176 114 x 162 107 x 152 112 x 160
7 74 x 105 88 x 125 81 x 114 76 x 107 80 x 112
8 52 x 74 62 x 88 57 x 81 53 x 76 56 x 80

The aspect ratio of ISO paper sheets is 1 to 1.414 (The square root of 2). This gives them a unique property: If you cut a sheet into two the resulting halves are the same proportion as the original. In other words a sheet of A4 when halved gives you two sheets of A5. All A size papers have the same proportions. The largest sheet in this series is A0 which is 841mm x 1189mm and just happens to be one square metre in area (ISO paper sizes are rounded to the nearest millimetre). Two other series which you may come across are RA and SRA which are used by printers. They are slightly larger than the A series to provide for grip, trim and bleed.