Magazine Weight Calculator (How Much a Magazine Weighs)

Estimate how much a magazine weighs from its page count, with typical page size and paper weights filled in, plus shipment weight for many copies.

Solve for

Pages on interior stock

Count both sides of every leaf, including blank pages and self-cover pages.

Page size

Finished page width

Finished page height

Interior paper (g/m²)

100 g/m² is a typical coated magazine text paper; printers use about 70–150. Change it if you know your stock.

Cover

Cover paper (g/m²)

200 g/m² is a typical magazine cover; common covers run about 150–300.

Copies

Optional settings

Mass allowance (%)

Blank means 0%; this adds mass, not extra copies.

Copies per box

Blank omits box count. Boxes and packing are not weighed separately.

Binding

Magazine Weight Calculator Formula

The following formula is used to calculate the Magazine Weight.

MGW = (PH \times 0.0254) \times (PW \times 0.0254) \times (P / 2) \times GSM

Variables:

MGW is the interior paper mass per magazine (grams), before separate cover or allowance
PH is the page height (in)
PW is the page width (in)
P is the even page count, including blank sides; two pages make one leaf
GSM is the paper density (grams/m^2)

The following two example problems outline the steps and information needed to calculate the Magazine Weight.

Example Problem #1

First, determine the page height (in).
- The page height (in) is calculated to be 8.
Next, determine the page width (in).
- The page width (in) is measured to be 10.
Next, determine the number of pages.
- The number of pages is found to be 24.
Next, determine the paper density.
- This is found to be 200 GSM.
Finally, calculate the Magazine Weight using the formula above:

MGW = (PH × 0.0254) × (PW × 0.0254) × (P/2) × GSM

The values provided above are inserted into the equation below and computed.

MGW = (8 × 0.0254) × (10 × 0.0254) × (24/2) × 200 = 123.87072 grams (interior paper only)