US Letter is 8.5 × 11 inches (215.9 × 279.4 mm) — the default document size across North America. Here it is in pixels at every common DPI, and how it differs from A4.
US Letter in pixels, by DPI
Letter is defined in inches rather than millimeters: 8.5 × 11 in, which works out to 215.9 × 279.4 mm. Because the width is a whole number of inches, its pixel dimensions come out round at every standard DPI:
DPI
Pixels (px)
72
612 × 792 px
96
816 × 1056 px
150
1275 × 1650 px
300
2550 × 3300 px
600
5100 × 6600 px
For comparison at 300 DPI: A4 (210 × 297 mm) is 2480 × 3508 px, Legal (8.5 × 14 in) is 2550 × 4200 px, and Tabloid (11 × 17 in) is 3300 × 5100 px.
Unit converter
DPI
Paper size
Portrait / Landscape
Size (mm)210.00 × 297.00 mm
Size at 300 DPI (px)2480 × 3508 px
Bleed & safe margin
Trim size210.00 × 297.00 mm · 2480 × 3508 px
With bleed216.00 × 303.00 mm · 2551 × 3579 px
Safe area204.00 × 291.00 mm · 2409 × 3437 px
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Working in Letter, or moving between Letter and A4
1
Select US Letter and a DPI
Pick US Letter from the paper size preset. The converter shows the size in mm, cm, inches and pixels together, so you can hand a client inches and your printer millimeters from the same screen. The resolution half of that handoff has its own pitfalls, which our 300 DPI walkthrough goes through.
2
Switch orientation for slides and spreads
Landscape Letter is 11 × 8.5 in, the shape most printed handouts and slide exports use. Toggling orientation swaps the pixel dimensions with it.
3
Check bleed in whichever unit your printer uses
US print shops usually quote bleed in inches (0.125 in is typical) while the field here takes millimeters — 0.125 in is 3.175 mm. Enter it once and the trim, bleed and safe-area rows update in both units.
4
Compare Letter against A4 before you commit
Switch the preset to A4 to see both sizes in the same units. A4 is 5.9 mm narrower and 17.6 mm taller — 70 px and 208 px at 300 DPI — and finding that out now costs a few seconds, while finding it out at print time costs a reprint.
The four Letter-size problems worth solving up front
Letter is rarely a design decision. It is the paper already in the tray, the format a client’s template arrives in, or the sheet a layout has to survive being moved onto. Each of those situations has a specific number attached.
An office document that has to print correctly
Letter at 300 DPI is 2550 × 3300 px, exactly — no rounding, because 8.5 and 11 are whole and half inches. Word’s default one-inch margins leave a text block of 6.5 × 9 in, which is 1950 × 2700 px, and that is the area any placed image actually has to fill. What the office printer will not do is bleed: most laser engines cannot image within roughly 4–5 mm of the sheet edge, so a design that runs colour to the trim needs a print shop and oversize stock. To size a placed graphic in millimetres instead, the mm to px converter handles the conversion.
One file that has to work on Letter and A4
The two sheets overlap in a usable rectangle: A4’s width and Letter’s height, or 210 × 279.4 mm — 2480 × 3300 px at 300 DPI. Keep every piece of content inside that box and a single PDF prints correctly on either paper at 100 %, with no scaling and no clipped footer. The margins will look slightly different on each sheet, which is a much smaller problem than a page number disappearing. Our A4 page gives the metric side of the same comparison.
An A4 file arriving from overseas
A4 is 70 px narrower and 208 px taller than Letter at 300 DPI. Printed at 100 % on Letter paper the bottom 17.6 mm simply goes missing, which is precisely where page numbers and footers live. Choosing "fit to printable area" instead scales the page to about 94 %, so nothing is lost but every margin you set moves inward and 10 pt body text lands near 9.4 pt. Sending a Letter file the other way is gentler at roughly 97 %. When you need to know what a given pixel size becomes on paper, the px to mm converter runs it backwards.
Bleed quoted in inches, not millimetres
US shops ask for 0.125 in of bleed, which is 3.175 mm — the bleed field here takes millimetres, so that is the number to type. Letter with 0.125 in all round is 8.75 × 11.25 in, or 2625 × 3375 px at 300 DPI. Heavier covers are sometimes quoted at 0.25 in, giving 9 × 11.5 in and 2700 × 3450 px. Keep live text 0.25 in inside the trim and the guillotine has room to wander. If the job is on the taller US sheet instead, our Legal size page carries the same figures for 8.5 × 14 in.
Which DPI a Letter-size file needs
Because Letter is defined in whole inches, every row below is exact rather than rounded. Choose by destination: the number that matters is what the sheet gets used for, not how large the file can be made.
DPI
Letter in pixels
Right for
Bear in mind
72
612 × 792 px
PDF page boxes and legacy point-based layouts.
Matches the page box a PDF reports for Letter, because the format counts 72 points to the inch. A unit, not a resolution.
96
816 × 1056 px
On-screen documents, web PDFs, UI mockups of a printed page.
The CSS reference resolution. It only renders at true physical size on a display that really is 96 DPI, which few now are.
150
1275 × 1650 px
Draft prints, review copies, handouts skimmed once and recycled.
Office lasers image at 600 DPI or more, so 150 DPI source art shows soft edges on 9 pt type and thin table rules.
300
2550 × 3300 px
Commercial printing, client deliverables, anything with photographs.
About 8.4 megapixels. What a North American print shop means when it asks for print resolution.
600
5100 × 6600 px
Line art, forms with hairline rules, archival scans, OCR sources.
Roughly 33.7 megapixels and about 101 MB uncompressed. Genuinely useful for type and rules, wasted on continuous-tone photographs.
None of these figures are rounded — 8.5 and 11 inches multiply cleanly by every standard DPI. The same is not true of an A4 page placed on Letter stock, where 210 × 297 mm has to be rounded to whole pixels first.
Frequently asked questions
What is US Letter in pixels at 300 DPI?
Letter at 300 DPI is 2550 × 3300 px portrait, or 3300 × 2550 px landscape. The numbers are exact rather than rounded, because 8.5 and 11 inches multiply cleanly by 300.
What happens when I print an A4 layout on Letter paper?
A4 is 5.9 mm narrower and 17.6 mm taller than Letter. Printed at 100 %, an A4 page loses about 17.6 mm off the bottom and gains a slightly wider margin at the sides. Scaling to fit instead shrinks the page to roughly 94 %, which keeps everything on the sheet but shifts every margin you set.
Which countries use Letter instead of A4?
The United States and Canada use Letter as the office default, and it is also common in Mexico, the Philippines and parts of Chile. Almost everywhere else follows the ISO 216 A series, so A4 is the safer choice for a document with an international audience.
Why do PDFs describe a Letter page as 612 × 792?
PDF measures in points, and there are 72 points to an inch: 8.5 × 72 = 612 and 11 × 72 = 792. It is the same physical sheet, expressed in the unit the format uses internally — which is also why Letter at 72 DPI comes out as 612 × 792 px.
Should I set up a client document in Letter or A4?
Go by where it will be printed, not where it will be designed. A document destined for a North American office prints correctly from Letter; anything for Europe, Asia or Australia should be A4. If both are in play, keep the content inside a shared safe area that fits either sheet, so one file works on both.
Does Letter follow the same halving rule as A4 and A3?
Not in the same way. Tabloid (11 × 17 in) is exactly two Letter sheets, but the proportions change: Letter is about 1:1.29 and Tabloid about 1:1.55. The ISO A series keeps one ratio (1:√2) through every size, which is why A-series artwork scales between sizes without reflowing and US sizes generally do not.
What is the printable area of a Letter page with default one-inch margins?
6.5 × 9 inches, which is 1950 × 2700 px at 300 DPI, 624 × 864 px at 96 DPI and 468 × 648 pt in a PDF. That text block, not the 8.5 × 11 sheet, is the space a placed image or a table actually has to fit into — sizing artwork to the full page and then wondering why it overflows is one of the more common Letter-size mistakes.
Can one PDF print correctly on both Letter and A4?
Yes, if you design for the overlap of the two sheets: 210 × 279.4 mm, or 2480 × 3300 px at 300 DPI. That takes A4’s narrower width and Letter’s shorter height, so everything inside it survives on either paper at 100 % with no scaling. Set the page itself to whichever size dominates and treat the shared rectangle as your live area.
How much bleed does a US print shop want on Letter, in pixels?
0.125 in on all four sides is the usual request — 3.175 mm in metric. That makes the bleed-inclusive sheet 8.75 × 11.25 in, or 2625 × 3375 px at 300 DPI. Some shops ask 0.25 in on heavier cover stock, which gives 9 × 11.5 in and 2700 × 3450 px. Keep live text about 0.25 in inside the trim line either way.
Why can’t my office printer print to the edge of a Letter sheet?
Laser and inkjet engines need to grip the paper as it feeds, so most cannot image within roughly 4–5 mm of any edge. Nothing in the file fixes that. Full-bleed Letter is produced by printing onto an oversize sheet and trimming it back to 8.5 × 11 in, which is a print-shop process rather than something a desktop machine does.
What is Letter size in pixels at 96 and 150 DPI?
816 × 1056 px at 96 DPI and 1275 × 1650 px at 150 DPI, both exact. Use 96 DPI for anything that stays on a screen and 150 DPI for a draft you will look at once on paper. Neither is a delivery resolution for print — that is 300 DPI, or 2550 × 3300 px.