printready

Print-ready refers to artwork and documents that are prepared for commercial printing and require no further production edits. A print-ready file has final page layout, typography, and imagery, and is sized and structured for the chosen press sheet. It is usually delivered as a digital file such as PDF, TIFF, or EPS and conforms to the printer’s technical specifications, including bleed, margins, and color setup.

Typical requirements include fonts embedded or outlined, images at the correct resolution (generally 300 dpi for raster assets at final size), and color managed according to CMYK or specified spot color profiles. Printers may require color profiles to be embedded and to deliver in PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 format, with crop marks and bleed (commonly 3 to 5 mm). Other common checks are ensuring there are no RGB assets, no transparency unless the workflow can handle it, all links updated, and final page sizes matching the target trim. For offset printing, proofs are often requested to confirm color accuracy.

Workflow and practice: create or finalize in layout software (such as InDesign or Illustrator), export a press-ready PDF following the chosen standard, perform preflight checks to catch problems, and deliver both the final file and any supporting assets to the printer. A print-ready deliverable may be accompanied by a separate media kit with fonts licenses, color swatches, and finishing instructions. The term also appears as a production status in content workflows for both print and certain digital print-on-demand services.