Bleed in printing: how to set up 3 mm correctly
Bleed is the extra margin by which a design extends beyond the finished size. It is cut off after printing. Most printers ask for 3 mm on every side, so an A5 flyer (148 × 210 mm) is set up at 154 × 216 mm. In the US, the usual figure is 0.125 inches, which is 3.175 mm.
Contents of this page
Why you need bleed
A guillotine cuts a stack of several hundred sheets in one go. The paper shifts by fractions of a millimetre as it does, and the printed image never sits in exactly the same spot on every sheet either. If a coloured background ended precisely at the cut line, some copies would end up with a thin white sliver along one edge.
With 3 mm of bleed, the guillotine has room to work. Whatever reaches into the bleed ends up in the offcuts. Whatever lies inside the trim size stays on the finished piece.
Document sizes with 3 mm bleed
| Finished size | Dimensions | Document size with 3 mm | Pixels at 300 dpi |
|---|---|---|---|
| A0 | 841 × 1189 mm | 847 × 1195 mm | 10,004 × 14,114 px |
| A1 | 594 × 841 mm | 600 × 847 mm | 7087 × 10,004 px |
| A2 | 420 × 594 mm | 426 × 600 mm | 5031 × 7087 px |
| A3 | 297 × 420 mm | 303 × 426 mm | 3579 × 5031 px |
| A4 | 210 × 297 mm | 216 × 303 mm | 2551 × 3579 px |
| A5 | 148 × 210 mm | 154 × 216 mm | 1819 × 2551 px |
| A6 | 105 × 148 mm | 111 × 154 mm | 1311 × 1819 px |
| A7 | 74 × 105 mm | 80 × 111 mm | 945 × 1311 px |
| DL leaflet | 99 × 210 mm | 105 × 216 mm | 1240 × 2551 px |
| Business card 85 × 55 | 85 × 55 mm | 91 × 61 mm | 1075 × 720 px |
| Letter | 216 × 279 mm | 222 × 285 mm | 2621 × 3371 px |
For other sizes or other bleed values, the bleed calculator works out the document size and the pixel dimensions. A US Letter flyer with 0.125 in bleed is 8.75 × 11.25 inches.
The safe area: the margin on the inside
Bleed is the margin outwards; the safe area is the margin inwards. Text, logos and important parts of images should sit at least 3 mm, better 4 to 5 mm, inside the trim line. Otherwise they look cramped, or a letter gets clipped when the guillotine lands half a millimetre off.
Bound booklets need even more room at the spine, because some of the paper disappears into the binding. For perfect binding, 8 to 10 mm from the spine is a good value.
How much bleed for which product?
- Flyers, cards, letterheads
- 3 mm (standard at almost every printer)
- Business cards
- 2 to 3 mm, depending on the printer
- Saddle-stitched booklets
- 3 mm, plus creep allowance for higher page counts
- Large-format posters
- 5 to 10 mm
- Banners and PVC
- 10 to 50 mm, often with an extra hem for eyelets
- Stickers with contour cut
- 2 to 3 mm around the contour
The exact values are in your printer’s spec sheet. If in doubt, 3 mm is never wrong: too much bleed does no harm, too little leaves white edges.
The most common mistakes
- The background stops at the trim line. The file has the right size including bleed, but the background image was only pulled to the cut line. The result is white edges.
- Trim size instead of document size. The file is exactly 148 × 210 mm. Many printers then scale it up to 154 × 216 mm automatically and cut off content in the process.
- A border close to the edge. A thin frame near the trim line almost never looks even after cutting, because a shift of 0.5 mm is already visible. Keep it at least 5 mm away or leave it out.
- Crop marks inside the bleed. If you draw your own crop marks, they often end up in the bleed area. Most online printers want files without any marks.
Bleed in common programs
InDesign, Affinity Publisher, Scribus: enter the trim size when creating the document and set bleed to 3 mm. When exporting to PDF, tick “Use document bleed settings”.
Canva: turn on “Show print bleed” under File, then choose “PDF Print” when downloading and tick “Crop marks and bleed”.
Word and PowerPoint: these programs have no bleed setting. Set the page up at the document size straight away (154 × 216 mm for A5, for example) and keep text at least 7 to 8 mm from the page edge.
Frequently asked questions
What does 3 mm bleed mean?
The design is set up 3 mm larger than the finished size on every side. Those 3 mm are cut off after printing.
How big is A4 with bleed?
With 3 mm on every side, 216 × 303 mm.
How big is A5 with bleed?
With 3 mm on every side, 154 × 216 mm.
Is 3 mm the same as 1/8 inch bleed?
Almost. 1/8 inch is 3.175 mm. Printers treat the two as interchangeable.
What is the safe area?
The zone inside the trim line, usually 3 to 5 mm, where text and logos should stay so the guillotine cannot clip them.