How much bleed a print job needs
The bleed most printers ask for, when you need it at all, how many pixels it is at 300 and 150 dpi, the safe area that goes with it, and how to add it to a design that was built without one.
Beginner3 min readUpdated 27 September 2026Editor · Canvas size
Why it exists
Printers print on larger sheets and cut them down with a guillotine that drifts by up to a millimetre. If your artwork stops exactly at the trim line, a drift outwards leaves a hairline of white paper along the edge. Bleed is artwork that continues past the trim so the drift lands on colour. The same drift going inwards is why the safe area exists: anything within about 5 mm of the trim can be clipped.
How much, by job
| Job | Bleed | Safe area | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business card | 3 mm | 3 to 5 mm | Small cards are cut in stacks; keep text well in. |
| Flyer, leaflet, postcard | 3 mm | 5 mm | The standard case. |
| Poster to A2 | 3 mm | 10 mm | A wide margin looks better on a poster anyway. |
| Large format, banners, boards | 5 to 10 mm, or what the printer says | 20 mm or more | Ask. Some want no bleed and trim to the artwork. |
| Booklets and folded pieces | 3 mm on outer edges | 5 mm, plus the fold | Nothing important across a fold. |
The pixel maths
Bleed in pixels = bleed in mm ÷ 25.4 × dpi, rounded up so the bleed is never short. 3 mm at 300 dpi is 35.4, so use 36 px. At 150 dpi it is 18 px. The calculator does it for any size and any bleed.
Add bleed to a design built without it
Do not scale the finished design up: that moves the safe area and softens the photos. Grow the canvas instead, then extend whatever touches the edge.
- In the Editor choose Image, Canvas size…, tick Relative, enter 72 in Add to width and 72 in Add to height (36 px each side at 300 dpi), leave the anchor in the centre and Apply. Nothing is scaled.
- Add guides 36 px in from each edge with View, New guide… so you can see the trim, and another 59 px further in for the safe area.
- Stretch or move the background colour and any edge photo so it reaches the new outer edge. Check nothing important slid past the inner guides.
- Export the PDF with Ctrl+E and tell the printer: "3 mm bleed included, no crop marks."
Do I need bleed if nothing touches the edge?
No. A design with a white margin all round can be supplied at trim size. Keep the safe area anyway, because the cut can still drift inwards.
Is bleed the same as a margin?
No. Bleed is extra artwork outside the trim that gets cut off. A margin is empty space inside the trim that stays. The safe area is the part of the margin nothing important should cross.
How many pixels is 3 mm of bleed?
36 px at 300 dpi (35.4 rounded up), 18 px at 150 dpi, 9 px at 72 dpi. Add it to both sides, so 72 px to the width and 72 px to the height at 300 dpi.