What is a Bleed

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a "bleed"?

Bleed is a printing term that refers to the image that extends pass the trimming after printing. This gives the printer some room to move around any irregularities in the paper or image. Bleeds normally extends out 1/8 to 1/4 inches from the cut--this will vary between companies.

The "bleed" prevents prints from having any unwanted edges (ie. White paper may have thin white edges surrounding the image).

Types of bleed:

Full Bleed-This refers to the image being printed right to the edge of the paper.
Bad Bleed-This refers to an image with little to no space around the focal area of an image and is cropped off after the trim.