Bleed (printing)

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In printing, bleed is printing that goes beyond the edge of where the sheet will be trimmed. In other words, the bleed is the area to be trimmed off. The bleed is the part on the side of a document that gives the printer a small amount of space to account for natural movement of the paper during guillotining,^[1] and design inconsistencies. Artwork and background colors often extend into the bleed area. After trimming, the bleed ensures that no unprinted edges occur in the final trimmed document.^[2]

It is very difficult to print exactly to the edge of a sheet of paper; therefore, it is necessary to print a slightly larger area than is needed and then trim the paper down to the required finished size. Any content that is intended to extend to the edge of the paper must be extended beyond the trim line in order to produce bleed.

Bleeds in the imperial system generally are 1/8 of an inch from where the cut is to be made. Bleeds in the metric system generally are 2mm-5mm from where the cut is to be made, often varying by printing company. Some printers ask for specific sizes; most of these companies place the specific demands on their website or offer templates that are already set to their required bleed settings.