Paper Sizes: American Paper Format and the A Series Formats

Did you know that paper in the North-American sizes are not commonly available outside the U.S. or Canada? This is because there are two major systems in use for the standard sizes of paper - the international standard, and the North American sizes. The United States, as well as, Canada are two countries in which the ISO standard paper sizes are not yet widely used.

In the US, the office paper formats widely used today are: “Letter” (216 × 279 mm), “Legal” (216 × 356 mm), “Ledger/Tabloid” (279 × 432 mm) and “Executive” (190 × 254 mm). However, these paper sizes are very difficult to obtain in any other country. The international paper sizes put in place by the International Standards Organization (ISO) are the A series, B series and C series. Standard paper sizes like ISO A4 are widely worldwide today for daily office use and is therefore the most important one. The dominance use of “Letter” format instead of ISO A4 can caused problems in the exchange of documents with other countries. Therefore if you send documents to any other country, your use of A4 is the right way to go. If you purchase a new office or printing equipment in North America, it would be important to get one that is suitable (compatible) for use with A4 paper. The majority of the world’s population uses A4 paper and uses it to do their laser printing.

So remember, don’t expect to receive documents in “Letter” format from abroad if you are in the US and it would be wise likewise to send documents aboard in A4 and not the “Letter” size.

ISO Standard: A Series Formats

Paper	Millimeters	Inches
A0	841 x 1189	33 1/8 x 46 1/4
A1	594 x 841	23 3/8 x 337/8
A2	420 x 594	16 1/2 x 23 3/8
A3	297 x 420	11 3/4 x 16 1/2
A4	210 x 297	8 1/4 x 11 3/4
A5	148 x 210	5 7/8 x 8 1/4
A6	105 x 148	4 1/8 x 5 1/8
A7	74 x 105	2 7/8 x 4 1/8
A8	52 × 74	2 × 2 1/8
A9	37 × 52	2 1/2 × 2
A10	26 × 37	1 × 1 1/2

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Some application examples for the A series format

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A0, A1 technical drawings, posters
A1, A2 flip charts
A2, A3 drawings, diagrams, large tables
A4 letters, magazines, forms, catalogs, laser printer and copying machine output
A5 note pads
A6 postcards, books

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American Paper Size

Paper Name	Millimeters	Inches
Letter	216 x 279	8 1/2 x 11
Legal	216 x 356	81/2 x 14
Ledger/Tabloid	279 × 432	11 × 17
		1
Executive	184 x 267	10 1/2 x 7 1/2
Foolscap	203 x 330	13 x 8
Quarto	203 x 254	8 x 10

Paper Products:
Office and Printing Papers
NotePads
Chart Papers
Paper Cups
Paper Plates