What Is Digital Printing Used For?

Digital printing is more than just copiers and printers. Digital printing is becoming used for a wide variety of applications.

What is Digital Printing?

Digital printing is any piece that is printed using a computer or computerized system in which the original is a computer file and the end result is a printed piece.

Ink Jet printing

Ink jet printing is one form of digital printing that uses ink that is expelled out onto the medium such as paper or fabric. Ink jet printers can be as small as the desktop printer that is standard in most homes or it can be used for large-format printing.

Large-Format Printing

Large-format printing is usually performed on specialized printers with large rolls of paper. The image can be as large as the roll of paper, plastic or fabric, if desired. This type of printing is commonly used for banners or vehicle graphics.

Laser printing

Laser printers are examples of digital printers, but instead of expelling the ink onto the medium, the ink is dry-toner based and is infused on the medium with heat. Laser-printed materials are usually more durable.

Digital Presses

Printing presses also are going digital. Many of these digital presses are glorified copiers, but can print multiple copies per minute, fold, staple and collate, and have larger-sheet sizes than regular copiers.

Digital Printing vs. Offset Printing

Digital printing is generally used for short-run printing jobs. Quantities of 500 or less commonly will be printed on digital printers because the setup time for an offset press is long and it isn't cost-effective to produce short-run projects on large presses. Digital printing also is useful if some of the information is going to change with each copy, such as with variable data printing.