A4 or Letter? Legal or Tabloid? Choosing the wrong paper size causes cut-off margins and printing errors. Here is everything you need to know — with a complete size chart in mm and inches.
| Size | Width × Height (mm) | Width × Height (inches) | Common use |
|---|---|---|---|
| A4 International | 210 × 297 mm | 8.27 × 11.69 in | Documents, letters, forms |
| US Letter USA/Canada | 216 × 279 mm | 8.5 × 11 in | US documents, reports |
| US Legal | 216 × 356 mm | 8.5 × 14 in | Legal contracts, deeds |
| A3 | 297 × 420 mm | 11.69 × 16.54 in | Posters, spreadsheets, blueprints |
| A5 | 148 × 210 mm | 5.83 × 8.27 in | Booklets, flyers, notepads |
| Tabloid / B | 279 × 432 mm | 11 × 17 in | Newspapers, large prints |
| Executive | 184 × 267 mm | 7.25 × 10.5 in | US business stationery |
| A6 | 105 × 148 mm | 4.13 × 5.83 in | Postcards, index cards |
A4 and Letter look almost identical but they are not interchangeable:
Legal size is taller than Letter and used almost exclusively in the USA for:
Outside the USA, legal size is rarely used. Most countries use A4 for legal documents.
A4, A3, A5, A6 are part of the ISO 216 standard used in almost every country except the USA and Canada. The logic is simple:
This makes scaling between sizes mathematically perfect — no distortion.
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Try Simply Edit PDF →A4 (210×297mm) is the international standard used in most countries. US Letter (216×279mm / 8.5×11 inches) is used in the USA and Canada. A4 is slightly taller and narrower than Letter.
There is no single standard. Most documents use A4 (international) or US Letter (USA/Canada). The size depends on where the document was created.
Yes. You can change PDF page size when printing (use "Scale to fit") or using a PDF editor to resize pages. Note that changing size may scale the content up or down.
Use A4 if you are in Europe, Asia, or most of the world. Use Letter (8.5×11in) if you are in the USA or Canada. Mismatched sizes cause margins to be cut off when printing.