North American sizes / Letter
US Letter page size for PDF generation
Letter is 8.5 by 11 inches and it is the default page in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile and the Philippines.
The dimensions
One measurement in four units. Millimetres and inches are what a printer works in; points are what the PDF itself stores; pixels are only useful for checking a screen mock-up against the real thing.
- Millimetres: 215.9 x 279.4 mm
- Inches: 8.5 x 11 in
- Points: 612 x 792 pt
- CSS pixels: 816 x 1056 px at 96 dpi
Where the size comes from
Letter predates the metric standardisation the A series came from and it has no geometric relationship to anything. Half a Letter sheet is 5.5 by 8.5 inches, which has a different aspect ratio from the sheet it came from, so Letter does not scale down cleanly the way A4 does. That single fact explains most of the friction between the two systems.
What gets printed at this size
- any document whose reader is in North America
- tax and government forms, which are defined at this size
- legal correspondence in every US jurisdiction except court filings that specify Legal
Margins that survive a real printer
1 inch all round is the convention and it is what every word processor defaults to. In millimetres that is 25.4mm, which is noticeably wider than the A4 convention of 16 to 18mm, so a document that looks correctly proportioned on A4 will look under-margined on Letter and the reverse.
The CSS
Letter is one of the six named formats the render API accepts, so it can be set in the request options or in the document's own CSS. Setting it in CSS keeps the size with the template, which is usually what you want.
@page {
size: Letter portrait;
margin: 1in;
}
/* Letter is 6mm wider and 18mm shorter than A4. A layout that fits one
exactly will overflow or come up short on the other, so avoid fixed
heights anywhere near the page height. */The render request
With a named format the size travels in the options and the CSS is optional.
{
"html": "<!doctype html>...",
"options": {
"format": "Letter",
"margin": { "top": "18mm", "bottom": "18mm", "left": "16mm", "right": "16mm" }
}
}The mistake people make
Serving one PDF to both markets. Letter is shorter than A4 by 17.6mm, so an A4 document printed on Letter loses the bottom of the last page, and a Letter document printed on A4 leaves a band of white. If both audiences matter, render twice and pick by the recipient's country.
Frequently asked
What is Letter in pixels?
816 x 1056 px at 96 dpi, at the 96 pixels to the inch that CSS assumes. That number is useful for comparing a screen mock-up against the page, and useless for laying out the document: use 215.9 x 279.4 mm instead, because a page laid out in pixels shifts whenever the render scale changes.
Can I pass Letter as a format?
Yes. "Letter" is one of the six format values the API accepts, alongside A4, A3, A5, Letter, Legal and Tabloid.
Does landscape need a different page size?
No. Landscape is the same rectangle turned, so it is set as an orientation rather than as swapped dimensions. Writing the width and height the other way round produces the same page and makes the intent harder to read later.
Other page sizes
Sizes that come up in the same conversation, and one from each of the other families.
US Legal page size for PDF generation
Legal is 8.5 by 14 inches: Letter width with three extra inches of height, used for contracts and court documents.
Tabloid page size for PDF generation
Tabloid is 11 by 17 inches, which is two Letter sheets side by side, and it is the North American equivalent of A3.
Half Letter page size for PDF generation
Half Letter is 5.5 by 8.5 inches, the North American answer to A5, made by cutting a Letter sheet across its long side.
Executive page size for PDF generation
Executive is 7.25 by 10.5 inches, a narrower and slightly shorter Letter used for company stationery and internal memos.
A4 page size for PDF generation
A4 is the default page for business documents everywhere except North America, and the default this API uses when no format is given.
4x6 shipping label PDF size
The 4 by 6 inch label is the standard thermal shipping label accepted by every major carrier, and the most common non-paper page size an API renders.
80mm thermal receipt PDF size
The 80mm roll is the standard point-of-sale receipt: 80 millimetres of paper, a printable width of about 72mm, and a length that depends on the order.
Every page size, with dimensions
The full list, grouped by what the size is for.
Paste the CSS below into the playground and see the page box it produces.