Print-ready artwork: what to send your printer, by source
Short answer
Send the file your application makes for print, not a screenshot, a web image or a copy of a copy: a PDF exported for print from your design or layout application, a logo as its original vector file (AI, EPS, SVG or PDF), a photo as the camera or phone saved it. Each source keeps one limit that no export removes, so ask your printer for their specification first, and check the file against it before you send it.
One rule for every source: send the original
Every copy can lose something. A screenshot keeps only the pixels that were on the screen, a messaging app may compress a photo, and a logo saved from a website arrives at screen size. The file a printer needs is the one closest to where the artwork was made. When the original is not available, say so when you send the file: a printer can plan around a known limit, not around a surprise.
Prepta’s test library holds the classic case, a logo cropped from a phone screenshot of a web page:
fernholt-logo.png
Source a phone screenshot
Pixels 360 × 360
Prints at 127 × 127 mm (the size
the file states)
Effective 72 ppi
Required 150 ppi
Verdict BlockedWhat to send, by source
The short version, before the reasons:
Canva print PDF with bleed
Word, PPT PDF at finished size
InDesign print PDF (PDF/X), not
the source file
CorelDRAW print PDF (PDF/X)
Illustrator PDF/X, or the .ai saved
PDF-compatible
Logo the vector original:
AI, EPS, SVG or PDF
Phone photo original HEIC or JPG
Generator largest PNG or JPGCanva, Word and PowerPoint
Canva’s print PDF carries a fixed 3.175 mm bleed and renders the page at 300 dpi, but it is RGB on the free plan and cannot add detail to a photo you placed; the Canva guide covers each setting. Word and PowerPoint make PDFs too, with two limits: their page sizes rarely match print products, and neither has a bleed setting, so artwork meant to run to the edge stops at it. Set the page to the finished size before you design, and ask whether the printer wants a white margin instead.
The free check does not open .docx or .pptx files. Export the PDF first (Word: File, Save As, PDF; PowerPoint: File, Export, PDF) and check that.
Logos and photos
A logo should arrive as the file it was drawn in, as vectors: AI, EPS, SVG or PDF. A logo from a website, an email signature or a screenshot is a small raster image; enlarged, it prints soft, and redrawing it is design work someone has to do and pay for. A photo should arrive as the phone or camera saved it. An iPhone’s HEIC file is fine: the free check converts it to a working copy and says so in the report.
Images from an image generator
An image generator delivers a fixed number of pixels, and the print size divides them. Download the largest version it offers, as PNG or JPG; WebP is a web format the free check does not read. Then check the effective resolution at the size you want to print, before anyone builds a layout around the image.
Design and layout applications
InDesign, Illustrator, Affinity and CorelDRAW export print PDFs with real bleed, page boxes and, where you choose it, PDF/X. Use the printer’s preset if they supply one, or PDF/X-4 with their bleed and marks. Send the PDF, not the source file, unless the printer asks for packaged sources. An Illustrator file saved PDF-compatible, which is Illustrator’s default, can be checked as it is.
How Prepta handles it
The free print file check takes PDF, JPG, PNG, TIFF and SVG, Illustrator files saved PDF-compatible, Photoshop files in RGB or greyscale saved with Maximize Compatibility, and EPS and HEIC through a working copy it names in the report. For a file it does not check, such as a Word document or a WebP image, it says what the file is and what to send instead. In a print shop’s workspace, Prepta keeps the original as it arrived and records every change made to the working copy.