the weight of a sheet of A4 paper…
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/09/20
Recently I needed to know the weight of A4 paper sheets.
So I entered “A4 paper size weight“, and found a wealth of information about paper, sizes weight and history.
Enough for a few hours of happy internet browsing.
In Europe, we use DIN sized paper.
But I never knew that the the German DIN 476 standard was the base for the ISO 216 A and B series and ISO 217 RA and SRA paper sizes, and the DIN 678 was the base for ISO 269 C series envelope sizes.
In addition to A series, B series and C series, there are also D series, E series and further, but they are not covered by an ISO or DIN standard.
The number behind the letter indicates how many times it has been cut from zero.
For instance, A4 has been cut 16 times out of A0.
The grammage (gms or g/m²) of A series paper describes how much an A0 sheet (of exactly 1 m²) weighs.
Since 16 sheets of A4 paper go into one A0 sheet, you can do the math (well: one sheet of 120 g/m² A4 weighs 7.5 gram).
The definitive sources on the paper size topic is the International standard paper sizes article by Markus Kuhn.
It not only explains the width/height ratio’s, but also describes how the A series, B series and C series of paper sizes are related.
This quote makes a lot of puzzle pieces fall into place:
For example, an (unfolded) A4 size letter fits nicely into a C4 envelope, which in turn fits as nicely into a B4 envelope. If you fold this letter once to A5 format, then it will fit nicely into a C5 envelope.
Oh, and he has a nice table of paper sizes that I will quote as well:
A Series Formats B Series Formats C Series Formats 4A0 1682 × 2378 – – – – 2A0 1189 × 1682 – – – – A0 841 × 1189 B0 1000 × 1414 C0 917 × 1297 A1 594 × 841 B1 707 × 1000 C1 648 × 917 A2 420 × 594 B2 500 × 707 C2 458 × 648 A3 297 × 420 B3 353 × 500 C3 324 × 458 A4 210 × 297 B4 250 × 353 C4 229 × 324 A5 148 × 210 B5 176 × 250 C5 162 × 229 A6 105 × 148 B6 125 × 176 C6 114 × 162 A7 74 × 105 B7 88 × 125 C7 81 × 114 A8 52 × 74 B8 62 × 88 C8 57 × 81 A9 37 × 52 B9 44 × 62 C9 40 × 57 A10 26 × 37 B10 31 × 44 C10 28 × 40
The French wikipedia paper size page as a table that also lists the D and E series, not used much, but still handy:
Formats de la Norme ISO 216 + DIN 476 (en mm) 4A0 1682 × 2378 2A0 1189 × 1682 2B0 2000 × 1414 A0 841 × 1189 B0 1414 × 1000 C0 1297 × 917 A1 594 × 841 B1 1000 × 707 C1 917 × 648 D1 779 × 545 A2 420 × 594 B2 707 × 500 C2 648 × 458 D2 545 × 385 A3 297 × 420 B3 500 × 353 C3 458 × 324 D3 385 × 272 E3 560 × 400 A4 210 × 297 B4 353 × 250 C4 324 × 229 D4 272 × 192 E4 400 × 280 A5 148 × 210 B5 250 × 176 C5 229 × 162 D5 192 × 136 E5 280 × 200 A6 105 × 148 B6 176 × 125 C6 162 × 114 D6 136 × 96 E6 200 × 140 A7 74 × 105 B7 125 × 88 C7 114 × 81 D7 96 × 68 A8 52 × 74 B8 88 × 62 C8 81 × 57 A9 37 × 52 B9 62 × 44 C9 57 × 40 A10 26 × 37 B10 44 × 31 C10 40 × 28
–jeroen
PS: one A4 sheet of 80 g/m² weighs 5 gram.
Via: lots of sources :-)
English:
Dutch:
French:
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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