Paper Jargon 101
by Raki Wright | Last Updated September 18, 2018
Ever wonder what a perf, crease, or paper weight is?
What is a perf?
A perforation, sometimes called a perf, indicates a line of small dotted holes for the purpose of tearing-off a part of a printed matter (usually straight lines, vertical or horizontal).
What is a micro-perf?
A micro-perforation, sometimes called a micro-perf, is a perforation that results in the cleanest edge possible, after tearing.
What is a score or crease?
A score results when paper is compressed along a straight line so it folds more easily and accurately. It is sometimes called a crease.
What is paper thickness?
Thickness defines the bulkiness of a sheet. Also known as caliper, this is the thickness of a single sheet of paper, as measured in thousandths of an inch.
What is paper weight?
Paper weight is often measured in cover, index, text, bond, tag, bristol or gsm.
This is determined by measuring the weight of a certain quantity of sheets of paper. Paper weight may be expressed as basis weight, ream weight, M weight or grammage. Stay tuned tomorrow to see what those terms mean!
View our Paper Weight Comparison Chart to compare equivalent weights for different grades of paper.
What is missing from this list?
