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KDP Cover Size Calculator

Spine width, full cover size, and 300 DPI pixels from your trim, page count, and paper — ready for Canva, InDesign, or Photoshop.

KDP paperback covers are one unfolded file: back, spine, front, plus 0.125" bleed. Enter your specs, read the diagram, download a PDF. Always confirm the live calculator in KDP before you upload.

Calculate cover size
Formulas follow Amazon KDP’s paperback cover help pages

Must be between 24 and 828 pages (KDP's printable range for this paper type).

Your spine is wide enough to safely print your title text on it.

Your cover, unfolded

This is the single flat file you'll upload — back cover, spine, and front cover side by side, plus the 0.125" bleed strip on every outer edge.

Front / back cover Spine Bleed (0.125" — trimmed off) Safe text margin

Exact dimensions

Spine width
—
Full width
—
Full height
—

What these numbers mean

The calculator gives you three figures. Here is what each one is actually protecting you from.

Bleed
0.125" of extra artwork on every outer edge that gets sliced off in the trim. Without it, tiny misalignments leave a white sliver. Backgrounds must extend into this zone — text never should.
Spine width
Calculated from page count × paper thickness, not guessed. Thin books (under ~100 pages) often cannot fit readable spine text — check the note above the diagram first.
Trim size
The finished, cut size of the book in your hand — 6 × 9 in, for example. It is the size of the pages, not the cover file. Your cover file is always larger, for spine and bleed.
Safe margin
A buffer, usually 0.25", kept clear of any text or important detail on the front and back, and inset further on the spine. It protects your title from the trim and the barcode box.

Figures follow Amazon KDP's published paperback cover formulas (0.125" bleed per outer edge; spine multiplier by paper stock) and round pixel dimensions up at 300 DPI. Always confirm against the live cover calculator in KDP before final upload — page count limits and multipliers are occasionally revised by Amazon.

What is a KDP cover size calculator?

A KDP cover size calculator turns trim size, page count, and paper stock into the exact file dimensions Amazon expects for a paperback wrap: back cover, spine, front cover, and bleed.

Instead of building a 6 × 9 rectangle and hoping, you get spine width, full width, full height, and pixels at 300 DPI — the numbers to set in Canva, InDesign, or Photoshop.

Back · Spine · Front · Bleed
One unfolded PDF file
✦ 0.125" bleed · 300 DPI

Why use this calculator?

01 Spine from real paper stock

White, cream, and premium color are different thicknesses. The same page count produces a different spine on each — guessing 0.8" is how barcodes get cropped.

02 Bleed and safe margin, not just trim

KDP wants 0.125" extra on every outer edge. The diagram shows what gets trimmed off versus where title text can safely sit.

03 Inches and 300 DPI pixels

Export size for Photoshop, Canva, or InDesign: full width × full height, rounded up so you do not undershoot Amazon’s resolution rule.

04 Know when the spine is too thin

Books under about 0.25" of spine should stay blank. The calculator flags that before you spend an afternoon kerning a title that will never print.

05 PDF for your designer

Download a one-page spec sheet with the unfolded diagram and the exact numbers. Confirm against KDP’s live calculator before you upload.

How to use this tool

Trim, pages, and paper in; spine, full width, and full height out — so the design file is the right size before artwork starts.

1

Choose trim size and paper

Pick the finished page size of the printed book — 6 × 9 in for most novels — and the interior stock (white, cream, or premium color). Paper thickness changes the spine even when page count stays the same.

2

Enter the final page count

Use every interior page, including blanks and the title page. KDP prints even page counts, and each extra page adds a little spine width.

3

Calculate, then download

Get spine width, full cover width, and full height in inches and pixels at 300 DPI. Download a PDF of the specs for a designer or cover setup.

Frequently asked questions

Amazon KDP paperback formulas: spine width = page count × paper thickness, full width = bleed + trim width + spine + trim width + bleed, and full height = trim height + 0.25" (0.125" bleed on top and bottom). Pixel sizes are rounded up at 300 DPI.
Trim size is the finished, cut size of the book in your hand (for example 6 × 9 in). The cover file is always larger because it includes the back cover, the spine, the front cover, and a 0.125" bleed strip on every outer edge.
Spine width = page count × the paper multiplier. White paper uses 0.002252" per page, cream uses 0.0025", and premium color uses 0.002347". A 320-page cream paperback, for example, has a 0.8" spine.
Bleed is 0.125" of extra artwork on every outer edge that gets trimmed off. Without it, small shifts in printing can leave a white sliver at the edge. Backgrounds and images must extend into the bleed; text should stay inside the safe margin.
Only if the spine is at least about 0.25" wide. Thinner books — usually under roughly 100 pages — should be left with a blank spine. If the spine is wide enough, keep type at least 0.09" from each spine edge.
Export at 300 DPI. The result panel shows the pixel size of the full cover (width × height) at that resolution, rounded up so the file does not undershoot KDP’s requirement.
Cream is the usual choice for fiction. White is common for nonfiction, workbooks, and photo-heavy interiors. Premium color is for books that need color interiors. Changing paper changes the spine even if page count stays the same.
No. Use the numbers here to design the file, then confirm the live cover calculator inside KDP before upload. Amazon occasionally revises page-count limits and paper multipliers.

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