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Many of us would not have passed our childhood without visiting a circus, at least once. And, how happy we were
laughing our heart out when the “joker team” made all sorts of pranks. Their colorful conical cap is one interesting part
of their attire that gave them a distinct personality. Not to forget the big red cherry nose, of course. And no wonder that
the cap became so popular that it was called “foolscap.” It was made short or long either from a 216 mm (8.5 inch) x
343 mm (13.5 inch) or 432 mm (17 inch) x 343 mm (13.5 inch) paper. And, many of grew up to become engineers,
entrepreneurs, artists so on and so forth. Whatever the path of journey may be, it is impossible to stay away from one
thing: PAPER. And, paper of different sizes have helped us accomplish many things. Writing, painting, typing, printing
and scribbling something. How much ever can be the popularity of latest technologies, paper remains an indispensable
part of our daily activities.

This week, let us explore the paper from its dimensional perspective. Whether you are using an envelope to post a letter
or printing some report or photocopying a journal. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have setup
certain guidelines for different paper sizes. This will help in working with paper anywhere in the world easier and
common.

Standard paper sizes like ISO A4 are widely used all over the word today. This text explains the ISO 216 paper size system
and the science behind its design.

The ISO paper size concept

In the ISO paper size system, the height to width ratio of all pages is the square root of two ( = 1.4142:1) called
ASPECT RATIO. In other words, the width and height of a page relate to each other like the side and diagonal of a square.
This aspect ratio is especially convenient for a paper size. If two “small” size pages are put next to each other, it will
result in next “higher” size. For example, when two A4 sheets are placed next to each other matching “longer” side, it
will result in A3 sheet.

The ISO paper sizes are based on metric system. Hence, square root of two will not permit the exact dimension.
Therefore, there area of pages has been defined to have round metric values. As paper’s quality is essentially mentioned
in GSM (grams per square meter) the metric value makes it simple for calculation of weight of the document if the
format and number of pages are known.

ISO 216 defines the A series of paper sizes based on these simple principles:

The height divided by width of all formats will have a ratio equal to square root of two, 1.4142

Format A0 has an area of one square meter

Format A1 is A0 cut exactly into two pieces. This means the height of A1 is width of A0 and width of A1 is half the height
of A0

Although inches are also used for measurement, generally the paper dimensions are defined in millimeters. Refer to
table-1 ( all numbers are in millimeters) for details. The inch dimensions are used in USA, Canada and few other
countries. They are broadly categorized as “legal” or “letter” or “executive” types.
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In simple terms, Geometric mean of two (or more) numbers of the square root of product of these two numbers. Let
us calculate the geometric mean of numbers 2, 4 and 8 to understand.

Similarly, for three numbers,

Arithmetic mean of two (or more) numbers is the simple average of these numbers. For example the arithmetic
mean of 2 and 8 will be = (2 + 8) / 2 = 5 and for 2, 4 and 8, it will be = (2 + 4 + 8) / 3 = 14/3 = 4.666

For applications where the ISO A series does not provide adequate format, the B series has been introduced to cover a
wider range of paper sizes. The C series of formats has been defined for envelopes.

The width and height of a B format are the GEOMETRIC MEAN between those of a A size and its next HIGHER size. For
instance, B1 is the geometric mean between A1 & A0, that means the same magnification factor that scales A1 to B1
also scales B1 to A0.

The Japanese JIS P 0138-61 standard defines the same A series as ISO 216, but slightly different B series of paper sizes,
sometimes called as JIS B or JB series. JIS B0 has an area of 1.5 square meter such that the area of JIS B page is the
arithmetic mean of the A series pages with the same and next higher number. The JIS B or JB paper standards are not
very popular outside Japan since they do not conform to ISO standards.

All dimensions are in millimeters.

Table 1

A Series Formats B Series Formats C Series Formats

4A0 1682 x 2378 - - - -
2A0 1189 x 1682 - - - -
A0 841 x 1189 B0 1000 x 1414 C0 917 x 1297
A1 594 x 841 B1 707 x 1000 C1 648 x 917
A2 420 x 594 B2 500 x 707 C2 458 x 648
A3 297 x 420 B3 353 x 500 C3 324 x 458
A4 210 x 297 B4 250 x 353 C4 229 x 324
A5 148 x 210 B5 176 x 250 C5 162 x 229
A6 105 x 148 B6 125 x 176 C6 114 x 162
A7 74 x 105 B7 88 x 125 C7 81 x 114
A8 52 x 74 B8 62 x 88 C8 57 x 81
A9 37 x 52 B9 44 x 62 C9 40 x 57
A10 26 x 37 B10 31 x 44 C10 28 x 40

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The allowed tolerances are ±1.5mm for dimensions up to 150mm, ±2mm for dimensions between 151 and 600 mm, and
±3 mm beyond 601mm. Some national equivalent of ISO 216 specify tighter tolerances. For instance, DIN 476 specifies
±1mm, ±1.5mm and ±2mm respectively.

The ISO standard paper covers a wide range of formats, but not all of them are widely used in practice. Among them, A4
is clearly the most important one for daily office use. Some main applications of the most popular formats are
summarized in the following table-2.

Table 2

A0, A1 Engineering drawings, Posters

A1, A2 Flip Charts, Part drawings, Assembly procedures
A4 Letters, magazines, forms, catalogs, laser printer and
copying machine output
A5 Note pads
A6 Post cards
B5, A5, B6, A6 Books
C4, C5, C6 Envelopes for A4 letter – Unfolded (C4), Folded Once (C5),
Folded Twice (C6)
B4, A3 Newspapers, supported by most copying machines
B8, A8 Playing cards

The main advantage of ISO standard paper sizes becomes obvious for users of photo copying machines.

Example – 1

You are in a library and want to copy an article out of journal that has A4 format. In order to save paper, you want to
copy two journal pages on two sheets of A4 paper. If you open the journal, the two A4 pages that you will now see
together have A3 format. By setting the magnification factor on copying machine to 71% or by pressing A3 → A4 button
that is usually available on most copying machines, both A4 pages of the journal article together will fit exactly the A4
produced by copying machine. One reproduced A4 page will now have A5 format. No wasted paper margins appear, no
text has been cut off and no experiments for finding the appropriate magnification factor are necessary. The same
principle works for books in B5 or A5 format.

Copying machines designed for ISO paper sizes usually provide following special short cut keys for easier magnification.

Table 3

71% A3 → A4
84% B4 → A4
119% A4 → B4 (also B5 → A4)
141% A4 → A3 (also A5 → A4)

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The following table shows magnification factor for all A series ISO dimension papers. This will be helpful during
photocopying or zooming a document for further applications.

Table 4

To →
A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10
From
↓
A0 100% 71% 50% 35% 25% 18% 12.5% 8.8% 6.2% 4.4% 3.1%
A1 141% 100% 71% 55% 35% 25% 18% 12.5% 8.8% 6.2% 4.4%
A2 200% 141% 100% 71% 50% 35% 25% 18% 12.5% 8.8% 6.2%
A3 283% 200% 141% 100% 71% 50% 35% 25% 18% 12.5% 8.8%
A4 400% 283% 200% 141% 100% 71% 50% 35% 25% 18% 12.5%
A6 566% 400% 283% 200% 141% 100% 71% 50% 35% 25% 18%
A6 800% 566% 400% 283% 200% 141% 100% 71% 50% 35% 25%
A7 1131% 800% 566% 400% 283% 200% 141% 100% 71% 50% 35%
A8 1600% 1131% 800% 566% 400% 283% 200% 141% 100% 71% 50%
A9 2263% 1600% 1131% 800% 566% 400% 283% 200% 141% 100% 71%
A10 3200% 2263% 1600% 1131% 800% 566% 400% 283% 200% 141% 100%

Not only the operation of copying machines in offices and libraries, but also photography, microfilming and printing are
simplified by the aspect ratio (1: 1.4142) of the ISO standards.

Example – 2

If you are preparing a letter, you will have to know the weight of content in order to determine the postal fee. This can
be conveniently calculated with the ISO A series paper sizes. Usual typewriter and laser printer paper weight 80 GSM
(grams per square meter). An A0 sheet measures one square meter and next smaller measures half its area and so on.
So an A4 sheet measures 1/16 of A0 weight, which is equal to 5 grams. So, if five A4 sheets are to be posted, it will
measure 20 grams.

Calculation of weight of books, newspapers or packed paper is equally simple. You probably will not need such
calculations often, but they nicely show the beauty of the concept of metric (ISO) paper sizes.

Using standard paper size saves money and make many applications simple. For example, if all scientific journals use
only ISO formats, then libraries would have to buy only very few different sizes for the binders. Shelves can also be
designed such that standard formats will fit exactly without too much wasted shelf volume.

ISO formats are widely used in applications other than paper. German citizen ID card uses A7 format and most of the
passports are of B7 format. Interestingly, toilet paper in Germany are of A6 width size.

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Sometimes, paper formats with a different aspect ratio are required for labels, tickets and other purposes. These should
preferably be derived by cutting standard series sizes into 2, 3, 4 or 8 equal parts parallel with shorter side such that the
ratio between longer and shorter side is greater than aspect ratio. Some example long formats are given in following
table.

Table 5

(1/3) A4 99 x 210
(1/4) A4 74 x 210
(1/8) A4 37 x 210
(1/4) A3 105 x 297
(1/3) A5 70 x 148

Envelope formats
For postal purposes, ISO 269 and DIN 678 define the following envelope formats, although there could be few
differences in some countries.

Table 6

Format Size (mm) Content Format

C6 114 x 162 A4 folded twice
DL 110 x 220 A4 folded twice
C6 / C5 114 x 229 A4 folded twice
C5 162 x 229 A4 folded once
C4 229 x 324 A4 unfolded
C3 324 x 458 A3 unfolded
B6 125 x 176 C6 envelope
B4 250 x 353 C5 envelope
E4 280 x 400 B4

Folding larger pages to A4 for filing

DIN 824 describes a method of folding A0, A1, A2 and A3 formats to A4 formats for filing. This folding technique ensures
that there will be a 20 millimeter single-layer margin for filing holes and that the page can be folded / unfolded without
removing from file. This will also ensure that the labels printed either in bottom-left or bottom-right corner of an
engineering drawing will orient itself to the top for easy readability.

Filing Holes
ISO 838 specifies that, for filing purposes, two holes of 6±0.5mm diameter can be punched into sheet with a centre to
centre distance of 80±0.5mm and offset by 12±1mm to the nearest edge. The holes must be located symmetrically in
relation to the axis of the sheet or document. Any format that is at least as large as A7 can be filed using this system. If
two more holes are to be punched, they will be 80mm above and below these holes giving it more stability inside a file.
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Technical drawing pen sizes
Technical drawing pens follow the same size-ration principle. The standard sizes differ by a factor of square root of 2
(1.4142). The pen sizes will be 2, 1.4, 1, 0.7, 0.5, 0.35, 0.25, 0.18 and 0.13 mm. So after drawing with a 0.35mm pen on
A3 paper and reducing it to A4, you can continue with the 0.25mm pen (ISO 9175-1)

Overhead projectors
When you prepare overhead projector slides for a conference, you might wonder, how large the picture are of the
projector that you will have available is. ISO 7943-1 specifies two standard sizes of overhead projector picture areas.
Type-A is 250 x 250 mm and Type B is 285 x 285 mm. Therefore if you use A4 transparencies, leave at least 30mm as top
and bottom margins.

Most computer displays also have the same aspect ratio as TV sets. 4:3. 640 x 480 = 1024 x 768 = 1280 x 960. If you
prepare presentation slides, the layout should be inside 280 x 210 mm. This will help in showing all parts of
transparencies on all slides and easier printability.

One of the oldest written records regarding the two-square-root aspect ratio for paper sizes is a letter that the physics
professor Georg Christoph Lichtenberg from University of Gottingen, Germany wrote to Johann Beckmann.

US and few other industrialized nations today uses non-ISO paper sizes like Letter (216 mm x 279 mm), Legal (216 mm x
356 mm), Executive (190 mm x 254 mm). Refer to the following table showing closer dimensions for ISO papers in
inches.

Table 7

A Series Formats B Series Formats C Series Formats

4A0 66.250 x 93.625 - - - -
2A0 46.750 x 66.250 - - - -
A0 33 x 46.750 B0 39.375 x 55.750 C0 36 x 51
A1 23.375 x 33 B1 27.750 x 39.375 C1 25.5 x 36
A2 16.5 x 23.375 B2 19.75 x 27.75 C2 18 x 25.5
A3 11.75 x 16.5 B3 13.875 x 19.75 C3 12.75 x 18
A4 8.25 x 11.75 B4 9.875 x 13.875 C4 9 x 12.75
A5 5.875 x 8.25 B5 7 x 9.875 C5 6.375 x 9
A6 4.125 x 5.875 B6 4.875 x 7 C6 4.5 x 6.375
A7 2.875 x 4.125 B7 3.5 x 4.875 C7 3.1875 x 4.5
A8 2 x 2.875 B8 2.5 x 3.5 C8 2.25 x 3.1875
A9 1.5 x 2 B9 1.75 x 2.5 C9 1.625 x 2.25
A10 1 x 1.5 B10 1.25 x 1.75 C10 1.125 x 1.625

The dominance of the “Letter” format instead of ISO A4 as the common paper format in North America causes a lot of
problems in daily international document exchange with the USA and Canada. ISO A4 is 6mm less wide but 18 mm

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higher than the “letter” format. Word processing documents with an A4 layout can often not be printed or modified
without loss of information, loss of margins and all the styles applied, including page numbering. A4 documents must be
printed with 94% magnification factor to fit into letter paper. Similar, letter documents have to be printed with 97%
magnification to into 3% less wide A4 paper.

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