become informed, share and maintain your knowledge
Confused About Paper Weights?
It seems like an every day occurence when it comes to paper for multifunctional copy machines. What's 90lb index, or how does that relate to cover stock, better yet what about bond paper weights.

We've put together these charts to help eliminate the confusion problem. You can compare various types of paper and their "Equivalent Weights."  Enjoy!

Special thanx to Microformat & High Security Paper

The Values in the table below are intended to serve as a guide only.
They should not be used as specifications because there are variances
within the same basis weight due to other characteristics of the papers.
Similar weight papers may vary between different paper manufacturers.


--
Bond
Ledger

-
Offset
Text

-
Cover
-

--
Tag
--

-
Index
-

-
Points
-

-
*Caliper
(inches)

--
millimeters
--

-
Metric
(grams/sq meter)

Equivalent 16 40 22 37 33 3.2 .0032 0.081 60.2 gsm
Weight 18 45 24 41 37 3.6 .0036 0.092 67.72 gsm
20 50 28 46 42 3.8 .0038 0.097 75.2 gsm
24 60 33 56 50 4.8 .0048 0.12 90.3 gsm
28 70 39 64 58 5.8 .0058 0.147 105.35 gsm
29 73 40 62 60 6 .0060 0.152 109.11 gsm
31 81 45 73 66 6.1 .0061 0.155 116.63 gsm
35 90 48 80 74 6.2 .0062 0.157 131.68 gsm
36 90 50 82 75 6.8 .0068 0.173 135.45 gsm
39 100 54 90 81 7.2 .0072 0.183 146.73 gsm
40 100 56 93 83 7.3 .0073 0.185 150.5 gsm
43 110 60 100 90 7.4 .0074 0.188 161.78 gsm
44 110 61 102 92 7.6 .0076 0.193 165.55 gsm
47 120 65 108 97 8 .0078 0.198 176.83 gsm
53 135 74 122 110 9 .0085 0.216 199.41 gsm
54 137 75 125 113 9 .009 0.229 203.17 gsm
58 146 80 134 120 9.5 .0092 0.234 218.22 gsm
65 165 90 150 135 10 .0095 0.241 244.56 gsm
67 170 93 156 140 10.5 .010 0.25 252.08 gsm
72 183 100 166 150 11 .011 0.289 270.9 gsm
76 192 105 175 158 13 .013 0.33 285.95 gsm
82 208 114 189 170 14 .014 0.356 308.52 gsm
87 220 120 200 180 15 .015 0.38 312 gsm
105 267 146 244 220 18 .0175 0.445 385.06 gsm

  • The darker colored boxes above represent the
    "most common paper weights" for that category.

  • Normal paper manufacturing tolerance within a
    paper production run is + or - 5% to 7% caliper

  • This Table was compiled by Micro Format, Inc.
  • Copyright 1997-2005 Micro Format, Inc.

    This table was duplicated with permission from Micro Format, Inc.


  • ADDITIONAL COVERSION TABLES

    How to Convert to Metric

    Length and Distance
    When you know Multiply by To Find
    inches 2.54 centimeters
    feet 30.480 centimeters
    miles 1.609 kilometers
    centimeters 0.394 inches
    meters 1.094 yards
    kilometers 0.621 miles
     

    Weight
    When you know Multiply by To Find
    pounds 0.454 kilograms
    tons 0.907 metric tons
    kilograms 2.205 pounds
    metric tons 1.202 tons
     

    Decimal Equivalents

    1/64 = 0.015625
    1/16 = 0.0625
    1/8 = 0.125
    3/16 = 0.1875
    1/4 = 0.25
    5/16 = 0.3125
    3/8 = 0.375
    7/16 = 0.4375
    1/2 = 0.5
    9/16 = 0.5625
    5/8 = 0.625
    11/16 = 0.6875
    3/4 = 0.75
    13/16 = 0.8125
    7/8 = 0.875
    15/16 = 0.9375
    1 = 1.0