US Letter document cover templates — 2550 × 3300

Why 2550 × 3300 and not something rounder

The number comes straight from the arithmetic: 8.5 inches × 300 dots per inch is 2550, and 11 × 300 is 3300. Three hundred DPI is roughly where the eye stops resolving individual dots at reading distance, which is why it is the standard for anything held in the hand.

A file with fewer pixels can still be printed at this size — it will simply be printed at a lower DPI and look softer. Changing the DPI tag in the metadata without adding pixels changes nothing about the image; the printer computes the same physical size either way.

Bleed and the safe margin

If any colour or image runs to the edge of the page, the printer needs bleed — extra artwork beyond the trim line, because paper shifts fractionally during cutting. The North American convention is 0.125 inches on every side, which makes the working canvas 2625 × 3375 pixels for a page that finishes at 2550 × 3300.

Pull the other way as well: keep text, logos and anything that must not be clipped at least 0.5 inches inside the trim line. Between bleed and safe margin, roughly the outer 0.6 inches of the design is either discarded or at risk.

A cover with a white background needs no bleed at all, which is one honest reason to design one.

Letter is not A4

US Letter is wider and shorter than A4: 8.5 × 11 inches against 8.27 × 11.69. A Letter design printed on A4 paper loses about 6 mm of width and gains 17 mm of height, which shifts every margin and can clip a full-bleed edge.

If the document has an international audience, either produce both sizes from the same source or design within the intersection — the central area that survives both — and accept slightly larger margins on one of them.

Exporting for print

Print shops want PDF, not PNG. Export the cover as an image, then assemble the document as a PDF at 100% scale — never "fit to page", which resizes your carefully measured layout to whatever the printer prefers and takes the margins with it.

Keep colours in sRGB unless the printer has asked for something else, and expect saturated blues and greens to print slightly duller than they appear on screen.