Weights and Sizes of Papers

The weight of metric paper is given in grams per square meter (gms). By definition, one square meter is one A0 size sheet or 16 A4 size sheets. The weight of United States letter size paper is given in pounds per 500 sheet ream of uncut C size paper. For the letter size paper, a sheet is cut into 4 pages so that a cut ream of letter size paper, 500 letter size sheets, weighs 5 pounds if the paper is nominally 20 pound paper. Note that each type of paper has a different "base size," so 200 gsm of one paper will give a different lbs/ream equivalent for a different paper. For instance: 20 lbs of Bond is almost the same as 28 of cover.

Paper Sizes

United States Paper Sizes in Inches Name Size Executive 7.5 x 10 A (letter) 8 1/2 x 11 Legal 8.5 x 14 B (ledger) 11 x 17 Super A3/B 13 x 19 C 17 x 22 D 22 x 34 E 34 x 44 F 28 x 40 G 11 x (22 1/2 to 90) H 28 x (44 to 143) H 28 x (44 to 143) J 34 x (55 to 176) K 40 x (55 to 143)

Metric Trimmed Paper Sizes Metric Name Metric Size in mm Size in Inches Closest United States Size Size in Inches A8 53 x 74 2.07 x 2.91 Business card 2 x 3 1/2 A7 74 x 105 2.91 x 4.13 3 x 5 3 x 5 A6 105 x 148 4.13 x 5.83 Microfiche 4.13 x 5.83 A5 148 x 210 5.83 x 8.27 5 x 8 5 x 8 A4 210 x 297 8.27 x 11.69 A 8 1/2 x 11 A3 297 x 420 11.69 x 16.54 B 11 x 17 A2 420 x 594 16.54 x 23.39 C 17 x 22 A1 594 x 841 23.39 x 33.11 D 22 x 34 A0 841 x 1189 33.11 x 46.81 E 34 x 44 2A 1189 x 1681 46.81 x 66.22 Metric Paper Sizes The basic size of metric paper is one square meter, which is the area of an A0 sheet of metric paper. This size, taken along with the aspect ratio, fully determines the size and shape of metric reprographics paper. For a given sheet size, United States paper is a little wider than metric paper in the short dimension, and a little shorter than metric paper in the long dimension. As can be seen, A0 size folded once is A1 size, folded twice is A2 size, folded thrice is A3 size, and folded 4 times is A4 size. Metric paper also has a B series of sizes for posters and wallcharts and a C series of sizes for envelopes.