Flyers · Glossary
What is tabloid size? 11 x 17 inch paper explained
Tabloid is 11 by 17 inches, about 279 by 432 millimetres, a North American size also called ANSI B. Turned sideways it is called ledger. It is twice US letter and the closest size to A3. At 300 DPI a tabloid page is 3300 by 5100 pixels, with an aspect ratio of about 1 to 1.545.
Tabloid is the big sheet in a North American office printer, used for spreadsheets, small posters and folded newsletters. Outside North America people usually mean A3, which is close but not the same, and the difference shows up as a white strip or a cropped edge.
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
4 min read · Published
| Measure | Tabloid | Ledger | US letter | A3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inches | 11 x 17 | 17 x 11 | 8.5 x 11 | 11.69 x 16.54 |
| Millimetres | 279 x 432 | 432 x 279 | 216 x 279 | 297 x 420 |
| Pixels at 150 DPI | 1650 x 2550 | 2550 x 1650 | 1275 x 1650 | 1754 x 2480 |
| Pixels at 300 DPI | 3300 x 5100 | 5100 x 3300 | 2550 x 3300 | 3508 x 4961 |
| Aspect ratio | 1 : 1.545 | 1.545 : 1 | 1 : 1.294 | 1 : 1.414 |
| ANSI name | ANSI B | ANSI B landscape | ANSI A | ISO 216 |
Tabloid and ledger are one sheet
The ANSI series defines a set of sizes built on letter. ANSI A is 8.5 by 11 inches, letter, and ANSI B is 11 by 17 inches, two letter sheets side by side. Printer drivers call the portrait sheet tabloid and the landscape sheet ledger, but the paper in the tray is the same. Unlike ISO sizes, the ANSI series alternates between two proportions, 1 to 1.2941 and 1 to 1.5455, so a letter page enlarged to tabloid does not fill it; there is always a strip left along one side, which is why folded tabloid newsletters are designed as two letter pages rather than one enlarged page.
Tabloid against A3
A3 is 297 by 420 millimetres, about 11.69 by 16.54 inches. Tabloid is 18 millimetres narrower and 12 millimetres longer. A file made for A3 printed on tabloid either shrinks to fit, leaving a band of white at top and bottom, or is cropped at the sides. A file made for tabloid printed on A3 does the opposite. Papersizes.org lists A3 as the closest ISO equivalent to ANSI B for exactly this reason. For anything with tight margins, a border or text near the edges, export at the size of the paper that will actually be in the printer.
What tabloid is used for
In offices, tabloid carries spreadsheets and plans that do not fit letter, and the folded sheet makes a four page letter sized newsletter. In shops and schools it is the small poster size, the one a standard office printer can still produce. Papersizes.org lists 11 by 17 as the US small poster. Super B, 13 by 19 inches, is the oversized sheet a print shop uses to print tabloid with bleed and crop marks, the same role SRA3 plays for A3.
Common mistakes
The first is choosing ledger in the print dialog for a portrait design, which rotates or shrinks the page. The second is a full bleed tabloid poster sent to an office printer that cannot print to the edge, leaving an uneven white frame. The third is designing at 1650 by 2550 pixels, tabloid at 150 DPI, and expecting crisp small text. The fourth is assuming a tabloid poster will fit an A3 frame; it is longer than A3 and will need trimming.
Tabloid and the flyer editor
The flyer editor has no tabloid or ledger canvas. Its print sizes are A4 portrait and landscape, which are ISO proportions, not ANSI. An A4 portrait design can still be printed on tabloid if the print shop scales it to the width and accepts a white band at the bottom, or crops the sides. The paper size converter shows the exact millimetres and inches for each sheet, and the flyer size resizer outputs a tabloid pixel size from the A4 export of 2480 by 3508 pixels. The blank PNG above is 3300 by 5100 pixels, tabloid at 300 DPI.
Questions people ask
Is tabloid paper the same as A3?
No. Tabloid is 11 by 17 inches, about 279 by 432 millimetres, and A3 is 297 by 420 millimetres. They are close enough to be used for the same jobs, but not interchangeable for print files: a design for one leaves a white strip or loses an edge on the other.
Why is it called tabloid?
The name comes from newspapers printed on a smaller sheet than the traditional broadsheet. Modern tabloid newspapers vary in size, though, so the newspaper format and the 11 by 17 inch office paper size share a name without sharing exact dimensions.
Can a normal printer print tabloid?
Only a wide format office or inkjet printer that takes 11 by 17 inch paper. Most home printers stop at letter or legal. Copy shops print tabloid on demand, often in colour, and many can fold it in half to make a letter sized booklet.
How do I set up a tabloid document?
Set the page to 11 by 17 inches, or 279.4 by 431.8 millimetres, portrait. Add 0.125 inches of bleed on each side if the printer asks for it, which makes the canvas 11.25 by 17.25 inches, and keep text at least 0.25 inches inside the trim.
How do I print a tabloid design on A3 paper?
Choose fit to page in the print dialog. The page shrinks slightly to fit A3's narrower width and leaves a thin white band at the top and bottom. If the design has a full colour background, ask a print shop to print on a larger sheet and trim to tabloid instead.
Make one with flyers
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own.
Create a flyer with OneCraftRelated questions
- What is legal paper size? 8.5 x 14 inches in mm and pixelsLegal paper size is 8.5 x 14 inches, 216 x 356 mm, 2550 x 4200 pixels at 300 DPI. How it compares with letter, foolscap and A4, and what legal is used for.
- B paper sizes: B0 to B10 in mm, inches and pixelsB paper sizes from B0 to B10 in mm and inches, B4 and B5 in pixels at 300 DPI, the JIS B differences, and where B sizes are used for books and posters.
- 24x36 poster size: cm, pixels and the 2:3 ratio24x36 poster size is 60.96 x 91.44 cm with a 2:3 ratio, 3600 x 5400 pixels at 150 DPI. How it compares with A1 and how to print an A0 board at 24x36.
Step by step in the builder: Choose your flyer template, theme and size.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .