Large format printing questions, answered

The basics

What is large format printing?

Large format printing is any printing done on a wide-roll or flatbed printer rather than a sheet press — generally anything wider than about 600 mm. It covers banners, posters, corflute signs, vehicle graphics, window films, wall graphics, pull-up banners, media walls, hoarding and billboards.

The defining characteristic is not just size but substrate range. A sheet press prints paper and board; a large format printer prints onto vinyl, mesh, fabric, film, corflute, ACM, acrylic and timber. That is why signage and large format printing sit in the same workshop.

What products come off a large format printer?

Vinyl banners and mesh banners, pull-up banner graphics, corflute signs and A-frame inserts, posters up to A0 and beyond, vehicle wraps and cut-vinyl lettering, window graphics, frosting and one way vision film, wall graphics and wallpaper, floor decals, media walls and step-and-repeat backdrops, hoarding panels, fence mesh, and the printed faces of most signage.

What is the maximum size you can print?

Roll widths generally top out between 1.5 and 3.2 metres depending on the material, with unlimited length along the roll. Anything wider than the maximum roll width is produced in panels and joined — either welded, overlapped or butt-joined depending on the substrate and where it is going.

So a 10 metre long banner is straightforward: it runs along the length of the roll. A 5 metre tall banner is a panelled job. When you are planning a large graphic it is worth asking about panel joins early, because it changes where you should and should not place a logo.

What happens when a graphic is bigger than the roll width?

It is split into panels and joined on site or in the workshop. On vinyl banners the panels are heat-welded into a single seamless-feeling sheet. On wall graphics and hoarding, panels are hung with a slight overlap or butt-joined. On ACM signage, panels are fixed to a frame with the joins falling on a designed line.

Design around the joins rather than against them. A join running through a face, a small logo or fine text will always be more noticeable than a join running through open background. Send us the artwork before it is finalised on very large pieces and we will mark where the panels will fall.

Resolution & image quality

What resolution do large format files need?

Far less than small-format print, because large format is read from further away. As a working guide: 150 dpi at final size for anything viewed within arm’s reach, 100 dpi for signage read from 2–3 metres, 72 dpi for banners read across a room or street, and as low as 25 dpi at final size for billboards.

How do I check whether my image is big enough?

Divide the image’s pixel dimensions by the finished print size in inches. A 3000 × 2000 pixel photo printed 1 metre wide (39.4 inches) gives 3000 ÷ 39.4 = 76 dpi — fine for a banner, marginal for a poster, not enough for an exhibition panel.

The quick metric version: pixels ÷ (millimetres ÷ 25.4) = dpi at that size. Work it the other way to find your maximum print size: pixels ÷ target dpi × 25.4 = maximum width in mm. A 4000 pixel wide image at 100 dpi maxes out around 1 metre wide. Right-click any image file and check its dimensions in pixels — that number, not the file size in MB, is what determines how big it can print.

My image looked fine on screen — why is it blurry at 3 metres wide?

Because a screen is only showing you around 1920 pixels across the whole display, so almost any image looks sharp on it. Enlarging that same image to 3 metres spreads those pixels across roughly 118 inches of material, and every pixel becomes a visible 25 mm block of colour.

Zooming to 100% in Photoshop or Preview shows you the truth. Better still: view the image at 100% and stand back to the distance the sign will actually be read from. If it holds up there, it will print.

Can you print a photo from my phone at banner size?

Often yes — modern phone cameras produce 12 to 48 megapixel images, which is plenty for a banner read from a few metres. The catch is that the photo must come off the phone at full resolution, not through a messaging app that compresses it.

Send phone photos by email as “actual size” or “original”, via a file transfer service, or AirDrop them across. A photo sent through Messenger, WhatsApp or a compressed email attachment can arrive at a fraction of its original pixel dimensions with visible compression artefacts baked in — and no amount of processing recovers that.

Can you make a low-resolution image bigger?

We can enlarge it, and modern upscaling software genuinely helps with photographic subjects — but it cannot add information that was never captured. Upscaling makes edges smoother and softens the pixel blocks; it does not put back detail that isn’t in the file.

Where upscaling works well: photographic backgrounds, textures, skies, out-of-focus areas. Where it does not: small text inside an image, logos, fine linework, product labels, faces at small scale. For anything with hard edges the correct fix is to rebuild it as vector artwork, not to upscale it. See vector artwork.

Can I use an AI-generated image on a banner or sign?

Usually not at signage size without rework. AI generators output a fixed pixel grid — commonly 1024 × 1024 up to around 2048 pixels — which is roughly 8 dpi across a 3 metre banner. Enlargement also magnifies the artefacts these images carry: garbled text, hands and objects that do not resolve, and plastic-looking texture.

AI images can work as a soft background element on a large piece where the detail is not being examined, and they are genuinely useful for concept and mock-up stages. For anything that carries the message — logos, lettering, product imagery, hero graphics — they need redrawing. Full explanation of AI images in signage →

Print technology & inks

What is the difference between eco-solvent, latex and UV printing?

They are three different ink chemistries. Eco-solvent inks bite into vinyl and are the long-standing outdoor durability standard. Latex inks are water-based, dry instantly and have no solvent odour, making them well suited to interior wall graphics. UV inks cure under UV light on contact and can print directly onto rigid substrates like ACM, corflute, acrylic and timber.

Can you print white ink, or onto clear material?

Yes. White ink is available on UV and some solvent systems, which is what makes printing onto clear acrylic, clear film and dark substrates possible. Without white, a “white” area in your artwork simply prints as no ink — the substrate colour shows through.

This matters for window graphics on clear film, printing onto coloured or black boards, and double-sided applications. Tell us the substrate colour when you supply artwork so we can plan the white layer — it is not something that can be added after the fact.

Do I need a laminate?

For anything outdoors, on a vehicle, on a floor, or in a high-touch position — yes. A laminate is a clear film applied over the print that adds UV protection, scratch and abrasion resistance, and chemical resistance. It typically doubles the usable life of an outdoor print.

Laminates come in gloss, matt and satin, plus specialty grades: anti-graffiti for exposed public sites, anti-slip rated for floor graphics, and textured for vehicle applications. Unlaminated prints are fine for short-term indoor work — a one-weekend event banner, a poster, an internal notice — where the extra cost has nothing to buy.

Can banners be printed double sided?

Yes. Double-sided banners are produced either by printing both sides of a blockout banner material, or by printing two sheets and welding them back to back with a light-blocking layer between. Blockout material stops the reverse image ghosting through.

Double-sided is essential for anything hanging perpendicular to traffic — flags, under-awning banners, street banners, hanging signs. It roughly doubles the print cost but not the hardware cost.

Products & finishing

How are vinyl banners finished?

Standard finishing is a welded hem on all four sides with brass eyelets at approximately 500 mm centres. Options include rope sewn into the hem for tensioned frames, pole pockets top and bottom for hanging banners, reinforced corners for exposed sites, and D-rings or webbing straps for heavy-duty installs.

Allow for the hem in your artwork. Roughly 40–50 mm folds back around the edge and is not visible on the finished banner, and eyelets punch through the outer 25 mm. Keep all text and logos at least 50 mm inside the finished edge.

When should I use mesh banner instead of solid vinyl?

Any time the banner is fixed to a fence, scaffold or elevated structure, or is exposed to consistent wind. Mesh has perforations that let wind pass through, which prevents the banner from acting as a sail and tearing out its eyelets or damaging what it is attached to.

Mesh looks slightly less saturated than solid vinyl because part of the surface is holes, so keep the design bold and avoid fine detail. Solid vinyl is the better choice for indoor use, short-term outdoor use in sheltered positions, and anywhere image quality matters more than wind loading.

Which way should corflute flutes run?

Vertically for any sign that stands up — on stakes, posts or a frame — because vertical flutes give the board its rigidity in that orientation and let water drain out rather than sit inside. Horizontal flutes are used only where the board needs to curve around a frame.

Corflute is normally supplied in 3 mm and 5 mm thicknesses. 5 mm is worth the small extra cost on anything above about 900 mm in either direction, or anywhere exposed to Sunshine Coast afternoon wind.

How do I set up artwork for a pull-up banner?

Set the document to the printed size for your specific base — commonly 850 × 2000 mm or 1000 × 2100 mm — and keep all important content at least 100 mm above the bottom edge and 60 mm below the top. The bottom of the print rolls into the cassette and the top is gripped by the rail; both are permanently hidden.

• Headline and logo should sit in the top third — that is roughly eye level when the banner is standing.
• The bottom 300 mm is often obscured by a table, a display or people standing in front. Don’t put your phone number there.
• Add 10 mm bleed all round unless we tell you otherwise for your specific hardware.
• Send the file at the base’s printed size, not a scaled A4 version.

What is a media wall?

A media wall — also called a step-and-repeat or backdrop — is a large tensioned fabric or vinyl graphic on a portable frame, used behind speakers, at press events, product launches and photo walls. The graphic is usually a repeating logo pattern so any crop of a photo taken in front of it includes branding.

The two things people get wrong are repeat spacing and logo scale. Logos need to be large enough to read in a photo taken from 3 metres and spaced so that a single-person crop always contains at least one complete logo. Fabric media walls travel and store better than vinyl and don’t crease permanently.

Can you print wall graphics and wallpaper?

Yes. Interior wall graphics are printed onto self-adhesive vinyl or printable wallpaper, panelled to fit the wall, and installed with the joins planned around features. Removable grades are available for leased premises and short-term fitouts.

Wall surface is the deciding factor. Smooth painted plasterboard is ideal. Textured render, brick and freshly painted walls (paint needs to cure, generally around four weeks) all cause adhesion problems. Send us a photo of the wall and the measurements and we will tell you what will hold.

Can you print floor graphics?

Yes, using a floor-grade vinyl with an anti-slip laminate rated for foot traffic. Floor graphics need the right laminate not just for durability but for safety and liability — a standard print laminate on a floor is a slip hazard.

Life expectancy depends entirely on traffic. A retail entry might get three to six months; a low-traffic corridor considerably longer. Sealed concrete, vinyl and tile all work; unsealed concrete and carpet do not.

What flag types are there?

The common types are teardrop, feather (also called bow or blade), rectangular and traditional flagpole flags. All are printed on knitted polyester and mount to a flexible pole with a ground spike, cross base, water base or wall bracket depending on where they are going.

Teardrop and feather flags hold their shape in low wind, which is why they read well in car parks and outside showrooms. Print can be single-sided (the reverse shows a mirrored, softer version through the fabric) or double-sided with a blockout layer.

File setup for large format

What file format should I supply for large format printing?

A print-ready PDF built at the finished size, in CMYK, with bleed, and with fonts embedded or converted to outlines. Native Adobe Illustrator or InDesign files are also fine with all links and fonts supplied. For photographic work, a flattened TIFF at the correct size and resolution works well.

What causes problems: Word, Publisher and PowerPoint files (built for screen and office printers, with no bleed or colour control), low-resolution JPGs pulled from a website, screenshots, and files exported at A4 “to be scaled up”.

Should I build my file at full size or to scale?

Full size where practical. Where the finished piece is enormous, build to a clean scale — 1:10 is standard — and clearly label the file with the scale and the intended finished dimensions. Never send an untagged scaled file and hope we work it out.

Illustrator has an artboard limit of 5778 mm, so anything longer than about 5.7 metres must be built to scale. When working at 1:10, remember that resolution scales too: an image that is 100 dpi in a 1:10 document is only 10 dpi at full size. Set your effective resolution to ten times the target.

How much bleed does large format need?

More than small-format print. Allow 10 mm on banners and hemmed items, 5 mm on corflute and rigid panels, and considerably more on wrapped or tensioned applications where the print folds around an edge. Ask us for the specific allowance on wrapped frames and fabric.

Does colour work the same way in large format?

Broadly yes — supply CMYK and give us Pantone references for brand colours. The difference is that large format inks on vinyl have a wider gamut than offset ink on paper, so some brand colours actually reproduce better on a banner than on a brochure, and the same file can look noticeably different across the two.

If a job spans both — say, a banner, a brochure and a corflute sign for one campaign — flag it and we will manage the match across processes rather than treating them as separate jobs.

What is the minimum text size for large format?

There is no technical minimum — the printer will render very small type — but there is a practical one based on reading distance. As a guide, capital letter height in millimetres should be at least 3 mm for every metre of intended reading distance, and more like 8–10 mm per metre for text that needs to be read by someone in a moving vehicle.

Practically: a banner read from 5 metres wants headline text at least 40 mm tall, and a roadside sign read at 60 km/h wants letters in the hundreds of millimetres. The most common large format design mistake is far too much text at far too small a size.

How do I send you a large file?

Email works up to about 10 MB. Beyond that use a free transfer service such as WeTransfer, or a shared Dropbox or Google Drive link. Send the original file rather than a compressed or “reduced size” version.

Durability & life expectancy

How long do large format prints last outdoors?

With a laminate, typically 3–5 years for eco-solvent print on quality vinyl, longer for cut coloured films. Without a laminate, 12–24 months before noticeable fading. Vinyl banners generally last 1–3 years depending on exposure and how well they are tensioned.

How should I store banners and pull-ups between uses?

Roll banners printed side out around a tube rather than folding them — folds crease permanently and the crease line cracks the ink over time. Store pull-up banners upright in their carry bag, retracted, out of direct sun and away from heat.

A banner left folded in a hot car boot over a Queensland summer will come out with visible crease lines and, on cheaper materials, cracked print. Rolled and stored indoors, the same banner will still be usable in five years.