📄 How many printed pages would your 1 GB text file take?

How this works (friendly approximations)

Ever wondered how big a file would look if you printed it? This data-to-paper calculator turns digital size into something you can picture: pages, sheets, reams, weight, and even stack height. It’s a practical way to translate file size, storage, or data usage into the real-world cost of printing, whether you are a student, a teacher, or someone planning a large document run.

The core idea is simple. A file size is measured in bytes. Text on paper is measured in characters and pages. So the calculator bridges those two worlds. It first converts your input size into bytes using either decimal units (KB, MB, GB) or binary units (KiB, MiB, GiB), then estimates how many characters those bytes represent based on your chosen encoding. For example, basic English in UTF-8 averages about one byte per character, while UTF-16 averages about two bytes per character. Once the total characters are estimated, the calculator divides by a typical characters-per-page value to find the page count.

From there, it calculates how many physical sheets are needed, taking into account single-sided or double-sided printing. It also estimates paper weight and stack height using common rules of thumb, so you can visualize whether a project would be a slim booklet or a towering pile of paper.

1. Enter your data size and choose the unit (KB/MB/GB or KiB/MiB/GiB).
2. Select an encoding average that matches your content, or choose a custom value.
3. Pick a characters-per-page setting (or set your own if you know your layout).
4. Choose single-sided or duplex printing.
5. Click Calculate to see pages, sheets, reams, weight, and stack height.

bytes = size × unit_multiplier
characters ≈ bytes ÷ bytes_per_character
pages = ceil(characters ÷ chars_per_page)
sheets = ceil(pages ÷ (duplex ? 2 : 1))

Real totals vary with fonts, margins, line spacing, long words, and non-ASCII characters (emojis and CJK text take more bytes in UTF-8). Use a custom chars/page if you know your layout.

Typical use cases include estimating print costs for reports, checking how much paper a codebase would need, and explaining data size in classrooms. It’s also handy for planning office supplies: reams, cases, and storage space for printed archives. The results are approximations, but they are grounded in common printing conventions and make file size comparisons easy to understand.

Paper math: weight & stack height

We estimate paper weight from typical sheet masses (A4 80 gsm ≈ 5.0 g; US Letter 20 lb ≈ 4.5 g). Stack height uses the rule of thumb: 500 sheets ≈ 5 cm (so one sheet ≈ 0.1 mm). These are handy classroom values—actual brands vary slightly.

• Reams: 1 ream = 500 sheets, 1 case = 10 reams (5,000 sheets).
• Double-sided printing: halves the sheet count for the same number of pages.
• Code vs prose: monospace code often packs fewer characters per page than dense prose.