Print Tools
Print Tools
Free print-tool calculators: DPI, paper sizes, bleed and margins, ink coverage, PDF imposition. Quick reference for designers and home printers.
- DPI Calculator
- Paper Sizes Calculator
- Bleed and Margin Calculator
- Poster Size Planner
- Print Cost Estimator
- Ink Coverage Estimator
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PDF Page Imposition Guide - Image Resolution Checker
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Print Quality Reference Guide - Aspect Ratio Calculator
- Print Scaling Calculator
- Paper Weight Converter
- Megapixels to Print Size Calculator
- Print Size to Megapixels Calculator
- Book Spine Width Calculator
- Booklet Page Order Calculator
- N-Up Printing Calculator
- Cartridge Yield & Cost Calculator
- Word Count to Page Count Estimator
- Photo Print Size Guide
- Laminating Pouch Size Guide
- Envelope Size Guide
- CMYK vs RGB Colour Guide
Calculators for the decisions made before printing
These are reference tools rather than printables, no PDF comes out of most of them. They answer the questions that come up while preparing a file: whether a photo has enough pixels for the size you want, how much bleed to add, what a paper weight converts to, what a print will cost in ink, and how to order pages so a folded booklet reads correctly.
Nothing is uploaded. The calculations run in your browser, which matters if you are checking a client's artwork.
Resolution, and the myth of 300 DPI
300 DPI is a print-shop convention for material held at reading distance, not a law. It is right for a photo book and wasteful for a poster viewed from across a room, where 150 DPI is usually indistinguishable and a banner can go lower still. The DPI calculator, the megapixels-to-print-size converter and the resolution checker all let you work the relationship in whichever direction you have information: from a file you already have, or from a size you have already committed to.
The related guides cover the same ground in prose, print quality, photo print sizes, and the CMYK versus RGB difference that explains why a bright screen colour can come back flat on paper.
Layout, cost and materials
For anything being assembled rather than simply printed, the booklet page-order calculator, N-up calculator, PDF imposition tool and poster-size planner handle the arithmetic that is easy to get subtly wrong, and expensive to discover after a hundred sheets. The book spine width calculator sizes a cover to a real page count and paper stock.
On the cost side, the ink coverage estimator, cartridge yield calculator and print cost estimator give a per-page figure that is usually higher than people expect. The envelope, laminating pouch and paper weight references cover the materials questions that otherwise mean a second trip to the shop.