{"id":5122,"date":"2019-03-04T18:42:47","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T17:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog2.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/?p=5122"},"modified":"2025-08-11T16:27:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T15:27:37","slug":"guide-to-gsm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/guide-to-gsm\/","title":{"rendered":"Printer Paper Guide: GSM (g\/m2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The weight of your print media can make a huge difference to your printing needs and preferences.<\/p>\n

For those looking for a new printer, the maximum GSM capability is an important factor to take into account.<\/p>\n

The max GSM capability means the highest density media that a printer can effectively print on.<\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re a graphic designer wanting to create print outs on a high density card stock, a printer with a high max GSM becomes a necessity.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

What is GSM or g\/m\u00b2, and what does GSM in paper mean?<\/h2>\n
\n
GSM or g\/m\u00b2 is a measurement of print media thickness. Short for ‘Grams per Square Metre’, the higher the GSM value, the thicker the media.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Paper thickness GSM chart<\/h2>\n

The chart below explains the degradations in GSM and how they can affect your printer purchase;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
U.S. Basis Weight<\/strong><\/td>\nGSM<\/strong><\/td>\nCaliper<\/strong><\/td>\nMedia Type<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
25lbs<\/td>\n40gsm<\/td>\n<\/td>\nTracing paper<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
50lbs<\/td>\n74gsm<\/td>\n<\/td>\nStandard Printer Paper<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
60lbs<\/td>\n89gsm<\/td>\n3pts<\/td>\nBook pages<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
70lbs<\/td>\n105gsm<\/td>\n3.5pts<\/td>\nEnvelopes\/Flyers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
80lbs<\/td>\n118gsm<\/td>\n4pts<\/td>\nPosters\/Brochures<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
120lbs<\/td>\n325gsm<\/td>\n14pts<\/td>\nGreeting Cards\/Book Covers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
130lbs<\/td>\n400gsm<\/td>\n16pts<\/td>\nBusiness Cards<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

What other ways of measuring paper weight are used?<\/h2>\n

An alternative method for measuring paper weight is the U.S. Basis Weight.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Basis weight is based on lbs measurements of the media and denotes the thickness and overall weight of a print media<\/p>\n

This weight standard is based on the weight of one ream (500 sheets) measured in lbs.<\/p>\n

This measurement is commonly dented as xlb where x = the pound weight.<\/p>\n

If a paper is said to have a weight of 70lb, this means that one ream of paper weighs 70lbs.<\/p>\n

Another, less commonly used method of paper weight measurement is the Caliper measurement method.<\/p>\n

Using a caliper tool, this method measures the physical thickness of the media and assigns the media a pts value.<\/p>\n

The higher the pts value, the thicker the media so a business card may score 18pts of thickness whilst a book page may score only 3pts.<\/p>\n

Take a look at our wide range of printers<\/a> here to find a model that can handle the media thickness you want to print on!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The weight of your print media can make a huge difference to your printing needs and preferences. For those looking for a new printer, the maximum GSM capability is an important factor to take into account. The max GSM capability means the highest density media that a printer can effectively …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1712],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","has-thumbnail"],"modified_by":"admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5122"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7282,"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5122\/revisions\/7282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.printerland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}