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GlossaryPrinting your card

Business Card Dimensions and Standard Sizes

Business card dimensions vary by country: 3.5 by 2 inches (88.9 by 50.8 mm) in the United States and Canada, and about 85 by 55 mm across most of Europe. The international ID-1 size, 85.6 by 54 mm, is the same as a bank card and is the size used for the print file here.

The Common Sizes

The United States and Canada use 3.5 by 2 inches, which is 88.9 by 50.8 mm. Most of Europe and much of the rest of the world use roughly 85 by 55 mm, with 85 by 54 mm and 90 by 50 mm also common. Japan traditionally uses 91 by 55 mm. The differences are a few millimetres, but they are enough that artwork made for one size will not fit another without being resized.

ID-1, the Bank Card Size

ISO/IEC 7810 defines the ID-1 card as 85.60 by 53.98 mm, the size of a bank card or driving licence, usually rounded to 85.6 by 54 mm. It is a convenient business card size because wallets, card holders and printing presses are all built around it, and because it is close to the common European size.

Dimensions Include Only the Finished Card

These numbers are the trim size, the card after it is cut. The file a printer wants is larger, because it must also carry bleed on every side. For an ID-1 card with 3 mm of bleed the artwork is 91.6 by 60 mm. Quoting the finished size to a printer while sending a file at the bleed size is normal and expected.

Orientation

Cards are usually landscape, wider than tall, but portrait cards exist and are specified by the same dimensions turned on their side. Some printers charge extra for non-standard sizes or rounded corners, so the standard size is also usually the cheapest.

Frequently asked questions

What is the standard business card size?

In the United States and Canada it is 3.5 by 2 inches (88.9 by 50.8 mm). In most of Europe it is about 85 by 55 mm.

What size is a business card in mm?

Commonly 85 by 55 mm, or 85.6 by 54 mm for the ID-1 bank card size. The US size converts to 88.9 by 50.8 mm.

Is a business card the same size as a credit card?

Almost. A credit card is ID-1, 85.6 by 54 mm, which is close to the European business card size and slightly different from the US one.

Keep reading

Related terms

BleedBleed is the extra artwork that runs past the edge where a printed card will be cut, so that a blade landing slightly off the line still finds ink and not bare paper. It is usually 3 mm on every side, which makes a card with an 85.6 by 54 mm finished size a 91.6 by 60 mm file.Safe ZoneThe safe zone is the margin inside the cut line of a printed card where text and logos must stay clear, because cutting is never perfectly exact. It is the opposite of bleed: bleed runs outwards past the cut, while the safe zone holds important content back from it. A margin of 3 to 5 mm is typical.Print-Ready PDFA print-ready PDF is a file prepared so a printer can use it without changes: the right finished size, bleed on every side, text and images that will print cleanly, and page boxes that record where the cut falls. It is a PDF built for a press rather than for viewing on screen.Paper Business CardA paper business card is a small printed card carrying a person’s contact details. It needs no battery, no signal and no explanation, and it is fixed at the moment it is printed: every detail on it is correct only until something changes.

Put this into practice with your own card

Put your details on one card page, share it by link or QR code, and change them whenever they change. The printed code keeps working. No credit card required to start.

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