Paper sizes can feel like alphabet soup — A4, A3, SRA3, B2. Here is a clear guide for South African print buyers so you can brief us with confidence.

The A series (finished sizes)

The A series is what most people know. Each size is half the one before it, so two A5s make an A4, two A4s make an A3, and so on.

• A6 — 105 × 148 mm (postcards, compliment slips)
• A5 — 148 × 210 mm (flyers, small booklets)
• A4 — 210 × 297 mm (letterheads, brochures)
• A3 — 297 × 420 mm (posters, menus)

SRA and B series (press sheets)

The A series is the finished size. To print it with bleed and gripper, the press needs a slightly larger sheet — that is where the SRA (“supplementary raw format A”) series comes in.

• SRA3 — 320 × 450 mm (our workhorse digital sheet)
• SRA2 — 450 × 640 mm
• SRA1 — 640 × 900 mm (litho)

The extra margin lets artwork bleed off the edge and gives the press a “gripper” edge to pull the sheet through. After printing, the sheet is guillotined back to the finished A size.

Why this matters for your job

Designing to a standard size almost always prints cheaper, because it imposes neatly on a standard press sheet with little waste. An odd, custom size can mean a whole sheet wasted around a single piece. If you are not tied to a custom size, ask us — we will tell you the closest standard that saves you money. Our imposition calculator lets you test any size against our press sheets in seconds.