The size A6 or DIN A6 is without any doubt one of the most used formats in printing works, knowing its main characteristics and measures is essential for those people who want to dedicate themselves to some area related to printing, such as graphic design or for someone who is thinking of doing some kind of printing work in A6 format.
If you want to know all the necessary details about A6 size, keep reading this article in which we describe everything you need to know.
What do the A6 sheets look like?
A6 is part of a set or range of page sizes, called the ISO A or ISO 216 standard. This international standard is based on the German DIN 476 standard of 1922. In reality, the A6 standard is often referred to as DIN A6. The Japanese have adopted the same set of sizes in their JIS P 0138-61 standard.
The A6 format measures 105 × 148 millimeters or 4.13 × 5.83 inches. In PostScript, its dimensions are rounded to 298 × 420 dots. The corresponding envelope format is C6 (114 × 162 millimeters).
By folding an A6 in two on its shorter side, an A7 document is created. Two adjoining A6 pages in a spread are equivalent to A5 paper size. This creates a range of paper sizes from A0 (which has a surface area of one square meter) to A10. The height/width ratio remains constant (1:1.41 or the square root of 2) for all sizes. Dimensions are always rounded to the nearest millimeter.
We are going to describe the A6 size using different units of measurement, since the world of printing and design is very wide and not always use the same unit when measuring a particular format, depending on the country will be used centimeters or inches, so it is interesting to know some basic measures.
A6 size in centimeters
The dimensions of an A6 sheet are 10.5 x 14.8 centimeters. In the following table you have the equivalence in other frequently used units such as millimeters or meters.
| Measures | Micrometers | Millimeters | Centimeters | Meters | |
| Tamaño A6 | 105000 x 148000 μm | 105 x 148 mm | 10,5 x 14,8 cm | 0,105 x 0,148 m |
A6 size in pixels
For an image to output correctly, it must have a certain minimum resolution. The number of pixels depends on the required output quality.
- At 300 ppi (pixels per inch) the image must be 1240 x 1748 pixels. This is the resolution required for quality offset printing that will be viewed at close range (such as books, brochures, magazines, calendars,…). For photo books, it is also the optimal resolution, but a lower number of pixels (up to 250 ppi) still provides high quality photographs.
- With 150 ppi, the image should have620 x 874 pixels. This is the minimum resolution for newspapers or posters viewed from a fairly close distance.
A digital camera with decent image quality and a resolution of 2 megapixels or more can be used to print high quality A6-size photographs.
Din A6 pixels per inch for low resolutions
Low resolutions are most commonly used for basic print jobs, such as brochures, business cards, catalogs, posters and basic print products.
| Size in pixels | 72 PPI | 96 PPI | 300 PPI | 300 PPI |
| A6 | 298 x 420 px | 397 x 559 px | 620 x 874 px | 1240 x 1748 px |
DIN A6 measured in pixels per inch for medium resolutions
Here are the different measurements expressed in pixels per inch for the medium resolutions.
| Size in pixels | 600 PPI | 720 PPI | 1200 PPI |
| A6 | 3508 x 4960 px | 2976 x 4195 px | 4961 x 6992 px |
Measurements in pixels per inch for A6 size at high resolutions
| Size in pixels | 1440 PPI | 2400 PPI | 2880 PPI |
| A6 | 8391 x 11906 px | 13985 x 19843 px | 16781 x 23811 px |
The A6 size expressed in Thou, inches, feet and yards
If you work in design internationally, it is important that you know the most common printing measurements expressed using another type of unit of measurement, such as inch, feet or yards, as they are widely used internationally, especially in English-speaking countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
Here is the table of equivalencies of A6 size in different international units of measurement.
| Unit of measure | Thou | Inches | Feet | Yard |
| Size A6 | 4134 x 5827 thou | 4.1 x 5.8 Inches | 0.344 x 0.485 Feet | 0.115 x 0.162 yd |
A6 size in points, picas and HPGL unit
Although not the most common, you may occasionally come across other types of units of measurement in the printing world, so it is important that you are aware of some of these measurements, even if they are not as commonly used.
| Unit of measure | Points | Spades | HPGL |
| Size A6 | 298 x 420 | 24.8 x 35.0 | 4200 x 5920 hp |
Frequently asked questions about A6 size
What kind of print products is DIN A6 typically used for?
A6 is a relatively small size, so it is typically used in products such as:
- Small size flyers
- Tickets
- Discount vouchers
- Small size books, pocket diaries, etc
Which size is larger A6 or A5?
The A5 size has larger dimensions than DIN A6. To tell which one has larger size is very simple, the larger the number, the smaller the sheet size.
A0 is the largest size format and A10 would be the smallest size.
Why is it important to know the measurements of the A6 size?
If you are going to do any printing work or want to dedicate yourself professionally to graphic design for printing, it is essential to know the exact measurements of the most used formats if you want your work to have the highest possible quality and also to avoid surprises with the result after printing.
Do you want to know more about other formats and sizes? Take a look at our articles on sizes where we provide you with all the information you need to know about each of the most important formats used in printing.