How to Convert a US Letter PDF to A4 (and Back)
Printing an American PDF on A4 paper — or a European one on Letter — cuts off edges. Convert the page size first so everything fits, with nothing stretched.
3 min read ·
US Letter (8.5 × 11 inches) is slightly wider and shorter than A4 (210 × 297 mm). Print one on the other and the edges get clipped or the margins come out lopsided. To fix it, open Resize PDF, add the PDF, choose A4 (or Letter for the reverse), keep orientation on Auto, and download. Every page is scaled to fit the new paper, with nothing stretched or cut off.
Convert Letter to A4
- Open Resize PDF and add the Letter-size PDF.
- Choose A4 as the page size.
- Leave orientation on Auto, and add a small margin if your printer can't print to the edge.
- Download the A4 version and print it as usual.
Convert A4 to Letter
The same, choosing Letter — for example when you're sending a European document to someone in the US or Canada, or uploading to an American portal that requires Letter pages.
Why the sizes don't match
| US Letter | A4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 216 mm (8.5 in) | 210 mm (8.27 in) |
| Height | 279 mm (11 in) | 297 mm (11.69 in) |
| Shape | wider and shorter | narrower and taller |
The difference is small — 6 mm in width and 18 mm in height — but it's enough to matter:
- Letter on A4 paper: the page is 6 mm too wide, so text near the left or right edge can be cut off, and there's an empty band at the bottom.
- A4 on Letter paper: the page is 18 mm too tall, so footers and page numbers get cut off at the bottom.
Most print dialogs have a "fit to page" or "scale to fit" option, which helps for a one-off printout. Converting the PDF itself is better when you're sending the file to someone else, uploading it, or printing many copies — the result is right everywhere, not just on your printer.
What resizing does to the pages
The content is scaled in proportion and centred, so:
- Letter → A4: the content shrinks very slightly (about 97%) to fit the narrower width, and a thin white band appears at the top and bottom.
- A4 → Letter: the content shrinks to about 94% to fit the shorter height, with thin bands at the sides.
Text and vector graphics stay sharp; nothing is rasterised. The changes are small enough that most readers won't notice.
Which countries use which?
- US Letter: the United States, Canada, Mexico and a few other countries in the Americas, plus the Philippines.
- A4: almost everywhere else — Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and most of South America.
If you're preparing a document for an international audience and don't know which they'll print on, A4 with generous margins prints acceptably on both.
Tips for documents that must print perfectly
- Check the margins in the downloaded file. If text sits close to the edge, resize again with a margin added.
- Mixed page sizes? Resize makes every page the same size, which also tidies up PDFs assembled from different sources.
- Too much white space after converting? Trim it with Crop PDF.
- Saving paper: print two pages per sheet with N-up PDF, which works on either paper size.
Frequently asked questions
Will the conversion change my text?
No. Only the page size and the scale change; every word stays the same and stays selectable.
Does it work on scanned documents?
Yes. Scanned pages are scaled the same way.
Is the PDF uploaded?
No — it's converted in your browser.