What do the 'Cabinet' and 'HV' photo paper sizes in printer dialogs mean?
Asked 6/20/2020
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Some printer dialogs list photo paper sizes such as Cabinet and HV, which are not common in modern paper-size standards like PWG/IPP. Are these real photographic print sizes, and what dimensions do they refer to? In particular, where do these names come from, and are they defined in inches or metric units?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
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Supported paper sizes are made available by the printer driver. You likely have a printer driver installed that supports photo papers. The HP website lists supported papers for the HP Deskjet D2600 Series. Among others, it lists:
Plain paper
Cabinet 127 x 177.8 mm (5 x 7 inches)
Photo paper
Cabinet 120 x 165 mm (4.72 x 6.5 inches)
Borderless Cabinet 120 x 165 mm (4.72 x 6.5 inches)
Borderless HV Photo paper 101 x 180 mm (4.0 x 7.1 inches)
I am unable to find photo papers in theses sizes available for sale, so it seems to be just a way to maximize specs to make a product seem better than it is. The closest sizes I see for sale are 5x7 and 4x6.
Originally by user75526. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user75526
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
These sizes appear to come from printer-driver-defined photo paper options, not from a universally adopted modern paper standard.
From the cited HP driver example:
- Cabinet can appear as 127 × 177.8 mm (5 × 7 in) for plain paper
- Cabinet photo paper can also appear as 120 × 165 mm (about 4.72 × 6.5 in)
- HV photo paper appears as 101 × 180 mm (about 4.0 × 7.1 in)
So yes, they are used as print presets by some printers, but they are not consistently defined across contexts. “Cabinet” has historical roots in older photographic print naming, but in modern printer software it may simply be a vendor preset. “HV” likewise seems to be a driver label for a long, narrow photo-paper format rather than a broadly recognized standard.
The key point is that these names are not reliable universal standards like A4 or 4×6. If you need exact sizing, use the dimensions shown by the driver rather than the name alone.
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