Paper Weight Calculator
Convert paper weight in gsm to thickness in millimetres and microns, and work out what one sheet or a whole job weighs.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Sheet size, Custom sheet width, Custom sheet height, Paper weight, How many sheets, Bulk factor
- What you get
- Approximate caliper, Approximate caliper, Weight of one sheet, Weight of one sheet, Weight of the whole job, Weight of the whole job, Weight of the whole job, Sheets in a kilogram, Sheets in a pound, Thickness of the stack, Thickness of the stack, Weight band
- Formula shown
- Yes, every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
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Results are estimates for general information only, always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Paper Weight Calculator
- 1 Enter Sheet size, Custom uses the width and height below.
- 2 Enter Custom sheet width (mm), Only used when the sheet size above is set to Custom.
- 3 Enter Custom sheet height (mm), Only used when the sheet size above is set to Custom.
- 4 Enter Paper weight (gsm), The grams per square metre figure on the ream wrapper.
- 5 Enter How many sheets
- 6 Enter Bulk factor, One for a normal uncoated paper. Below one for coated stock, which is denser, and above one for felt or heavily textured paper.
- 7 Press Calculate. You get Approximate caliper, Approximate caliper, Weight of one sheet, Weight of one sheet, Weight of the whole job, Weight of the whole job, Weight of the whole job, Sheets in a kilogram, Sheets in a pound, Thickness of the stack, Thickness of the stack, Weight band, and every intermediate step stays visible under "How is this calculated?"
- 8 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result, that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
A ream of 80 gsm A4
Five hundred sheets of standard copier paper.
You enter
- Sheet size
- 1
- Custom sheet width
- 0 mm
- Custom sheet height
- 0 mm
- Paper weight
- 80 gsm
- How many sheets
- 500
- Bulk factor
- 1
You get
- Approximate caliper
- 0.08 mm
- Approximate caliper
- 80.00 micron
- Weight of one sheet
- 4.99 g
- Weight of one sheet
- 0.18 oz
- Weight of the whole job
- 2,494.80 g
- Weight of the whole job
- 2.49 kg
- Weight of the whole job
- 5.50 lb
- Sheets in a kilogram
- 200.42
- Sheets in a pound
- 90.91
- Thickness of the stack
- 40.00 mm
- Thickness of the stack
- 1.57 in
- Weight band
- 4
About 4.99 grams a sheet and 2.49 kilograms for the ream, at a caliper of 0.08 millimetres.
A hundred 300 gsm A6 cards
Heavy card cut down to A6, which is the size of a small invitation. A5 is the sheet size selected here, so halve the per sheet figure for A6.
You enter
- Sheet size
- 2
- Custom sheet width
- 0 mm
- Custom sheet height
- 0 mm
- Paper weight
- 300 gsm
- How many sheets
- 100
- Bulk factor
- 1
You get
- Approximate caliper
- 0.30 mm
- Approximate caliper
- 300.00 micron
- Weight of one sheet
- 9.32 g
- Weight of one sheet
- 0.33 oz
- Weight of the whole job
- 932.40 g
- Weight of the whole job
- 0.93 kg
- Weight of the whole job
- 2.06 lb
- Sheets in a kilogram
- 107.25
- Sheets in a pound
- 48.65
- Thickness of the stack
- 30.00 mm
- Thickness of the stack
- 1.18 in
- Weight band
- 4
An A5 sheet of 300 gsm card is 9.36 grams, so an A6 card is about 4.68 grams and the hundred weigh about 468 grams.
Coated card measured against the rule of thumb
A 350 gsm coated card, where the coating makes the sheet denser than the rule assumes.
You enter
- Sheet size
- 1
- Custom sheet width
- 0 mm
- Custom sheet height
- 0 mm
- Paper weight
- 350 gsm
- How many sheets
- 250
- Bulk factor
- 0.90
You get
- Approximate caliper
- 0.32 mm
- Approximate caliper
- 315.00 micron
- Weight of one sheet
- 21.83 g
- Weight of one sheet
- 0.77 oz
- Weight of the whole job
- 5,457.38 g
- Weight of the whole job
- 5.46 kg
- Weight of the whole job
- 12.03 lb
- Sheets in a kilogram
- 45.81
- Sheets in a pound
- 20.78
- Thickness of the stack
- 78.75 mm
- Thickness of the stack
- 3.10 in
- Weight band
- 4
The bulk factor of 0.9 pulls the caliper back to about 0.315 millimetres, which is closer to a coated card than 0.35 would be.
Guides that go with it
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