When dealing with paper, we’ve all heard of the standard ‘A’ sizing system. Most commonly, we use A4 in the office, but we might buy an A5 notepad to sit in our bags or A3 paper for collaborative work and presentations. Generally speaking, these are the three most common sizes, but the scale goes all the way from A0 to A8. More recently, we’ve seen the rise of ‘SRA’ sizes for paper. But what does this mean?
What’s an SRA Paper Size?
Short for Supplemental Raw Format A, an SRA size loosely follows the known ‘A’ sizing system but the corresponding sizes are slightly bigger. If we use the A3 size as an example, the SRA3 is 30mm longer and 23mm wider.
Why has this grown in popularity in recent times? Because it’s difficult to print edge to edge on commercial print machines. Therefore, with a little bit of leeway both at the ends and sides, we can print in the middle of the page and then trim down after printing. The excess is known as the ‘bleed’, and it’s this border that allows for the edge-to-edge printing that we’ve all been missing over the years.
What Sizes Are Available?
At the moment, SRA3 is the most common size for those who like this system rather than printing on the standard ‘A’ system that we all know. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to print an A3 document onto the SRA3 paper size. Instead, the SRA3 will fit:
- 21 x business cards (85mm x 55mm)
- 16 x A7 pages
- 8 x A6 pages
- 4 x A5 pages
- 2 x A4 pages
Benefits of Printing on Larger Paper
For those who have been getting by with the traditional sizes, you might be struggling to understand the motivation behind the sudden switch. Why should you print multiple pages onto the SRA3? For one thing, it’s cheaper. Since paper prices don’t double with size, it makes sense to print on the biggest sheet possible. Suddenly, you’re getting several A5 or A4 pages for the price of one.
However, it’s not all about cost. For businesses that have printers that are constantly running, it makes sense to print on SRA3 sheets because you get more printing done per hour. Rather than printing one A4 page at a time, you can print two at once on an SRA3 sheet. Of course, this saves time and therefore money for the business.
If you’re worried about the trimming process, you won’t be left with wonky A4 pages and shards of paper all over the place. Instead, the trimming takes place by a professional who uses a guillotine for smooth and straight cutting.
There are advantages to choosing SRA3 Sheets from DAL and we can learn more by looking at the services they have available.. As you’ll see, they offer digital pre-cut labels in rectangles, circles, and squares. Available as both matt and gloss sheets, this opens up the printing possibilities. In fact, some people even print using the circle labels around the perimeter; something that before would have been very difficult and time-consuming.
With the right provider, they will have all sorts of sizes available and this means that you can achieve near enough any idea that the most creative minds generate. You buy the sheets, and you can increase output while also reducing the cost of production – it’s the perfect solution.
To get started, get in touch with a reliable brand that has a positive reputation in the market. For example, DAL offers lots of different products and excels in the SRA3 niche.
