A roll-up banner looks like the easiest print job in the world: one rectangle, one image, done. Then the stand arrives, the logo is swallowed by the cassette, the headline sits at knee height and the photo is pixelated from two metres away. Almost every one of those problems traces back to a single decision made at the start of the file: the roll up banner size and the way the artwork is built around it.
This guide is written from the production side of the press. It covers the standard dimensions in centimetres and inches, the bottom dead zone hidden by the cassette, the eye-level band where your message actually gets read, and the exact resolution, bleed and CMYK settings we want to receive in a print-ready file. Anyone digging further should read Typical Banner Sizes for Print and Digital.
Quick answer: what is the standard roll up banner size?
- Europe and most metric markets: 85 x 200 cm is the default roll up banner size, followed by 100 x 200 cm.
- North America: 33 x 79 in (sometimes listed as 33.5 x 80 in) is the equivalent best seller, with 24 x 81 in and 36 x 88 in also common.
- Visible height is not file height. A 200 cm banner is normally printed 215 to 220 cm tall, because the extra 15 to 20 cm is wound into the cassette and clamped at the top rail.
- Design resolution: 150 DPI at 100% scale is the sweet spot (100 DPI is acceptable for large formats viewed from 2 m or more).
Standard roll-up banner dimensions
Metric sizes (cm)
| Visible size (W x H) | Recommended file size | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 60 x 160 cm | 60 x 175 cm | Mini counter-side stand, tight corridors, shop entrances |
| 80 x 200 cm | 80 x 215 cm | Budget stands, narrow booth walls |
| 85 x 200 cm | 85 x 215 cm | The reference standard: trade shows, lobbies, conferences |
| 100 x 200 cm | 100 x 215 cm | More visual impact, product shots, image-led designs |
| 120 x 200 cm | 120 x 215 cm | Backdrops, photo walls, multi-banner walls |
| 150 x 200 cm | 150 x 215 cm | Wide double-base stands, stage backgrounds |
| 85 x 300 cm (adjustable) | 85 x 315 cm | High-ceiling halls, telescopic premium stands |
Imperial sizes (inches)
| Visible size (W x H) | Recommended file size | Metric equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 24 x 62 in | 24 x 68 in | 61 x 157 cm |
| 24 x 81 in | 24 x 87 in | 61 x 206 cm |
| 33 x 79 in | 33 x 85 in | 84 x 200 cm |
| 33.5 x 80 in | 33.5 x 86 in | 85 x 203 cm |
| 36 x 88 in | 36 x 94 in | 91 x 224 cm |
| 48 x 92 in | 48 x 98 in | 122 x 234 cm |
Important: hardware varies between manufacturers. Always ask for the template of the exact stand you ordered before finalising the layout. The numbers above are the industry norms, not a universal law.
Which size should you actually pick?
- 85 x 200 cm / 33 x 79 in if you want the safest, most reusable option. Spare parts, carry bags and booth planning all assume this format.
- 100 x 200 cm when the design is photo-driven or the banner stands alone in a large hall. The extra 15 cm of width reads as noticeably more premium.
- 60 x 160 cm for reception desks, pharmacies, small retail and anywhere people pass within one metre.
- 120 to 150 cm wide when you need a backdrop rather than a sign, or when you plan to butt several banners together into a wall.
The file anatomy: visible area, print area and dead zones
This is the part that most templates explain badly. A roll-up is not printed at its visible size. The graphic is a continuous sheet that gets clamped at the top and wound into a cassette at the bottom, so three parts of your file will never be seen by the public.
1. The bottom dead zone (hidden by the cassette)
There are two separate losses at the bottom:
- The wind-in tail: roughly 12 to 20 cm of printed material that stays permanently inside the cassette. This is why the file is 215 cm tall for a 200 cm banner.
- The cassette body itself: the aluminium base is typically 6 to 10 cm tall and physically covers the first centimetres of the visible graphic. The graphic emerges from a slot on the top face of the base, not from floor level.
Practical rule: treat the bottom 20 cm of the visible panel as a no-text zone. Fill it with background colour, a gradient, or the continuation of an image, never with a logo, a URL or a QR code. In the file, that means nothing critical below 35 cm from the bottom edge of a 215 cm document.
2. The top curl zone
The top of the banner is gripped by a rail or clamped into a profile. Depending on the system you lose 1.5 to 5 cm, and the very top of the panel often curls slightly forward under the light. Keep 5 cm of clearance at the top, and do not place a logo so high that it is cut by the rail.
3. The side margins
Roll-up material can drift 2 to 4 mm laterally when it is wound and unwound, and the rail itself may overlap the edges. Keep a minimum 2 cm safe margin on the left and right, and never align text flush to the edge.
Zone map for an 85 x 200 cm banner
| Zone | Position (from floor) | What goes there |
|---|---|---|
| Cassette / dead zone | 0 to 20 cm | Background only. No text, no logo, no QR code. |
| Low zone | 20 to 100 cm | Product image, secondary visual, legal line, partner logos |
| Eye-level zone | 120 to 170 cm | Headline, value proposition, call to action, QR code |
| Brand zone | 170 to 195 cm | Logo, slogan, visible above crowds from across the hall |
| Rail / curl | 195 to 200 cm | Background only |
The eye-level zone: where the message belongs
Average standing eye height is around 160 cm for adults (roughly 150 cm to 175 cm across the population). On a 200 cm banner, that means the natural reading band is the strip between 120 and 170 cm from the floor, which is the upper middle third of the panel, not the geometric centre.
Three consequences for your layout:
- Put the logo at the top, not the bottom. In a crowded exhibition hall, the bottom half of every banner is blocked by people, tables and flight cases. Only the top 80 cm is reliably visible from 10 m away.
- Put the call to action at eye level, not at the foot. A QR code should sit between 130 and 160 cm so that someone can scan it without crouching.
- Give the headline breathing room. A banner read in three seconds while walking past needs one idea, not a paragraph. Aim for seven words or fewer in the headline.
Resolution: the correct DPI at scale
Roll-ups are viewed from one to five metres, so they do not need 300 DPI. What matters is the resolution at final print size.
| Viewing distance | Minimum DPI at 100% | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 m (counter banner) | 150 DPI | 200 DPI |
| 1 to 3 m (typical booth) | 100 DPI | 150 DPI |
| Over 3 m (backdrop) | 72 DPI | 100 DPI |
Pixel dimensions by banner size (at 150 DPI, 1:1)
| Format | File size with wind-in tail | Pixels at 150 DPI | Pixels at 100 DPI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 x 160 cm | 60 x 175 cm | 3543 x 10335 px | 2362 x 6890 px |
| 85 x 200 cm | 85 x 215 cm | 5019 x 12697 px | 3346 x 8465 px |
| 100 x 200 cm | 100 x 215 cm | 5906 x 12697 px | 3937 x 8465 px |
| 120 x 200 cm | 120 x 215 cm | 7087 x 12697 px | 4724 x 8465 px |
| 33 x 79 in | 33 x 85 in | 4950 x 12750 px | 3300 x 8500 px |
Working at reduced scale
A 12 700 pixel tall Photoshop file is painful to handle. Two clean workarounds:
- Vector first. Build the layout in Illustrator, InDesign or Affinity Designer at 1:1 in millimetres. Text and shapes stay resolution independent, and only placed photos need checking.
- 1:2 or 1:10 scale. If you work at 1:2, set the document to 42.5 x 107.5 cm and design at 300 DPI. If you work at 1:10, use 8.5 x 21.5 cm at 1500 DPI. Both produce the same final quality. Write the scale clearly in the file name, for example banner_85x215_scale1-2.pdf.
And the rule that saves the most reprints: never enlarge a web image. A 1200 px wide photo stretched to 85 cm gives you about 36 DPI. It will look soft from three metres and mushy from one.
Bleed, margins and document setup
- Document size: visible size plus the wind-in tail at the bottom (for example 85 x 215 cm instead of 85 x 200 cm). If your supplier template already includes the tail, use the template as is.
- Bleed: 3 to 5 mm on all four sides. Extend background colours and images into the bleed. Avoid patterns that need perfect alignment at the edge.
- Safe margin: 2 cm left and right, 5 cm top, 20 cm bottom from the visible edge.
- Colour mode: CMYK from the start. Designing in RGB and converting at the end is the number one cause of dull, shifted brand colours.
- Crop marks: not required for roll-ups, and they can confuse the finishing operator. Supply the file clean, or with marks offset outside the bleed if your supplier asks for them.
- Layers: flatten transparency, or export to PDF/X-4 which handles live transparency correctly.
CMYK and export settings
Colour profile
- Europe: ISO Coated v2 (FOGRA39) or PSO Coated v3 (FOGRA51).
- North America: US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 or GRACoL 2006.
- Total ink coverage: keep under 300%. Heavy ink loads on PVC and polyester stay tacky, transfer onto the back of the banner when it is rolled up, and crack along the cassette curve.
- Rich black for large areas: C60 M40 Y40 K100. Never use 100% K alone across a full panel, it prints as a washed grey.
- Small text in black: 100% K only, single channel, to avoid registration fringing.
Pantone and brand colours
A roll-up is printed in four-colour process on a wide-format machine, so Pantone references are simulated, not matched. Bright oranges, deep navy blues and fluorescent greens shift the most. If a brand colour is critical, send the Pantone reference and ask for a printed colour strip before the full run.
Export checklist (PDF)
- Format: PDF/X-4 (or PDF/X-1a if your supplier requests flattened files)
- Colour: CMYK, output intent set, no RGB or spot colours left unless intentional
- Images: no downsampling below 150 DPI at final size, compression ZIP or JPEG maximum quality
- Fonts: fully embedded, or converted to outlines
- Bleed: 3 to 5 mm included, no crop marks inside the bleed area
- Pages: one single page per banner, correct orientation (portrait)
- File name: include the format and scale, for example client_rollup_85x215_CMYK.pdf
Font sizes: readable from 3 metres
The working rule in signage is 10 mm of capital letter height for every metre of viewing distance as an absolute minimum, and 15 to 20 mm per metre for comfortable reading. Because cap height is roughly 70% of the nominal font size, here is the conversion you can apply directly in your layout software.
| Viewing distance | Minimum cap height | Approx. font size | Comfortable size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 m | 10 mm | 40 pt | 60 pt |
| 2 m | 20 mm | 80 pt | 120 pt |
| 3 m | 30 mm | 120 pt | 170 pt |
| 5 m | 50 mm | 200 pt | 280 pt |
| 8 m | 80 mm | 320 pt | 450 pt |
Suggested hierarchy for an 85 x 200 cm banner
- Headline: 150 to 250 pt (cap height 40 to 60 mm), readable from 4 to 6 m
- Subhead: 80 to 120 pt, readable from 3 m
- Body / bullet points: 50 to 70 pt minimum, readable from 2 m
- Contact details and legal line: 28 to 40 pt, read up close only, and placed above 40 cm from the floor
- QR code: minimum 10 x 10 cm, placed between 130 and 160 cm from the floor, with a 1 cm quiet zone around it
Other readability points that matter more than font size: avoid light text on busy photographs, keep contrast high, do not set long lines of text in all caps, and limit the whole banner to 30 to 40 words maximum.
The five mistakes we see most often
- Logo at the bottom. It disappears behind the cassette, behind a chair, or behind a visitor. Move it to the top.
- File supplied at visible size only. Without the 15 to 20 cm tail, the printer either scales the design (distorting it) or adds a white strip that sometimes shows.
- RGB screenshots. Converting at the last minute flattens brand colours and makes bright blues go muddy.
- Too much copy. A banner is a billboard, not a brochure. One message, one action.
- Full-bleed dark backgrounds with heavy ink. Over 300% total ink, the surface stays tacky and transfers when the banner is rolled back into the cassette after the first event.
Before you send the file: 60 second check
- Document is 85 x 215 cm (or the template supplied with your stand), portrait
- 3 to 5 mm bleed on all sides, background extended into it
- Nothing important in the bottom 20 cm or the top 5 cm
- Key message sits between 120 and 170 cm from the floor
- Images are 150 DPI at final size, none enlarged from the web
- Document is CMYK, total ink under 300%, rich black used for large areas
- Fonts embedded or outlined
- Exported as PDF/X-4, one page, correct file name
Get those eight points right and a roll-up is one of the most reliable print products there is: fast to produce, reusable for years, and the cheapest square metre of brand visibility you will ever buy. If you are unsure about the exact template for your stand, send us the hardware reference and we will return the correct die-line before you start designing.
FAQ
What is the size for a roll-up banner?
The most common roll up banner size is 85 x 200 cm in metric markets and 33 x 79 in (around 33.5 x 80 in) in North America. The printed file is usually 15 to 20 cm taller than the visible height so the tail can wind into the cassette.
What is the standard size for pull-up banners?
Pull-up, roll-up and retractable banners are the same product under different names. The standard is 85 x 200 cm / 33 x 79 in, with 80 x 200 cm, 100 x 200 cm, 24 x 81 in and 36 x 88 in as the next most common formats.
What is the standard size for retractable banners?
In the United States the most widely stocked retractable banner sizes are 33 x 79 in and 33.5 x 80 in, followed by 24 x 81 in for compact stands and 36 x 88 in or 48 x 92 in for premium wide displays.
What is the roll up banner size in pixels?
At 150 DPI, an 85 x 215 cm file is 5019 x 12697 pixels. At 100 DPI it is 3346 x 8465 pixels. For a 100 x 215 cm banner at 150 DPI, use 5906 x 12697 pixels. If those dimensions are too heavy, design at 1:2 scale and 300 DPI instead.
How much of the banner is hidden by the cassette?
Two things are lost: the wind-in tail of 12 to 20 cm that never leaves the cassette, and the cassette body itself, 6 to 10 cm tall, which covers the lowest part of the visible panel. Keep the bottom 20 cm of the visible area free of text and logos.
Should a roll-up banner be designed in RGB or CMYK?
Always CMYK, from the first file. Use ISO Coated v2 (FOGRA39) in Europe or US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 in North America, keep total ink coverage below 300%, and export to PDF/X-4.
What font size should I use so the banner is readable from 3 metres?
Allow a minimum capital letter height of 30 mm, which is roughly 120 pt. For comfortable reading at that distance use 160 to 180 pt for headlines and never go below 50 pt for body text.
Can I print the same artwork on different banner sizes?
Not by simple scaling. The width-to-height ratio of 85 x 200 cm, 100 x 200 cm and 24 x 81 in are all different, so stretching the file distorts logos and typography. Rebuild the layout for each format, keeping the same eye-level logic.