A printer cuts the sheet after printing, and cutting is never perfectly exact. Bleed is the extra area of colour or image beyond the final page edge so that a small shift does not leave a white sliver. If your PDF was made at its final size with no bleed, this tool enlarges each page with a bleed margin and tells you exactly how the page boxes changed.
It places the original page in the middle, at its original size, and never stretches or distorts it. What fills the margin is your choice, and the tool says honestly what each option is: only the original artwork can truly extend beyond the edge.
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Overview
About PDF Bleed Adder
What happens to each page. The page is read as a vector form, clipped to its trim size (the TrimBox if it has one, otherwise the CropBox, otherwise the MediaBox) and drawn at the centre of a new, larger page. The new MediaBox is the trim size plus the bleed on every side (and plus an 8 mm margin if you add crop marks); the TrimBox is the original size; the BleedBox is the trim plus the bleed; the CropBox equals the MediaBox. Text and vector graphics stay vector; nothing is rasterised or scaled.
What fills the bleed. Mirror reflects the page's own edge outward, which hides a hairline of white but is a cosmetic fill and not real artwork: a gradient or a photo should be extended in its source program. Solid colour fills the margin with one colour you choose, useful for a flat background. Leave blank adds the margin as it is.
Crop marks. If you turn them on, thin black lines (0.25 pt) are drawn outside the bleed at each corner, starting 1 mm beyond the bleed, 5 mm long, so they do not print inside the trimmed page. The margin needed for them is added to the page.
Before and after. You see page 1 before and after, and a table with the page size before, the trim size and the page size after, in millimetres, for every page. Pages without a TrimBox are noted, because then the existing page edge was taken as the trim.
Ask your printer. Bleed amounts (3 mm is common, some processes want 5 mm), crop-mark styles, colour profiles (PDF/X, CMYK conversion), registration marks and file naming differ. This tool adds geometry; it does not convert colours or make a file PDF/X.
Compatibility
Supported Formats
PDF files up to 50 MB and 200 pages, any page size. Rotated pages keep their rotation. Encrypted PDFs are not opened.
Guide
How to Use PDF Bleed Adder
- Drag in the PDF at its final size.
- Enter the bleed in millimetres (0.5 to 20; 3 is the default), choose how to fill it, and decide on crop marks.
- Press Add bleed and check the before/after preview and the page box table.
- Download the PDF and send it to your printer, asking whether the geometry meets their specification.
Highlights
Features
- No scaling, no distortion Pages are placed at their original size; vector stays vector.
- Real page boxes MediaBox, TrimBox, BleedBox and CropBox are set, and every change is listed in millimetres.
- Three honest fills Mirror, solid or blank, each described for what it is.
- Crop marks that fit Marks sit outside the bleed in an added margin and never print inside the trimmed page.
Applications
Use Cases
- Preparing a flyer, menu or business card PDF that was exported without bleed
- Adding a flat-colour bleed to a poster with a solid background
- Producing a proof with crop marks to show where the page will be trimmed
- Checking what page boxes your PDF has and how they change
- Quickly fixing a file for a short print run when the source file is no longer available
Good to Know
Limitations
The bleed fill is cosmetic: mirror and solid fills are not extended artwork. Photos and gradients that should run off the edge need to be extended in the program that made the file. Content that was already outside the trim box is cut off, except as reflected in mirror mode.
Links, form fields and other annotations on the source pages are not carried over, and a tagged PDF loses its tags. Colours are not converted and no PDF/X identification is added. The result is meant for print preparation, not for on-screen use.
This tool runs entirely in your browser — your file is never uploaded to our servers. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
Support
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it stretch my page to make room for the bleed?
No. The original page is placed at its original size in the centre of a larger page. Content is never scaled or distorted. The test suite checks that the trim box keeps the original width and height.
Is 3 mm always right?
3 mm is a common default, but printers differ (some ask for 5 mm, others for 2 or 3). Ask your print shop and enter their value.
What is the difference between mirror and solid fill?
Mirror reflects the edge pixels of your page outward, which suits patterns and backgrounds without a hard edge; solid fills the margin with one flat colour. Neither is real extended artwork.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. It is processed in your browser and the new file is created there.
Why were my links lost?
Each source page is placed as a graphic into a new page, so annotations such as links and form fields are not copied. For print this normally does not matter.
Does it convert to CMYK or PDF/X?
No. It only changes page geometry. If your printer needs PDF/X or CMYK, produce that from the layout program or a prepress tool.
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