# What is the difference between ppm and ipm print speed?

> Print speed is the estimated amount of time it takes your printer to produce a single print. The actual print speed depends on what you are printing (t...

Source: https://support.ldproducts.com/en_us/what-is-the-difference-between-ppm-and-ipm-print-speed-rk9ZXYJIv

Last updated: 2021-03-09T00:00:59.157Z

Print speed is the estimated amount of time it takes your printer to produce a single print.  The actual print speed depends on what you are printing (text or images) what cartridges you are using (black or color) the quality of the print and the paper type.  Text documents on a “grayscale” printer setting are going to print much faster than a full color photo that is formatted to print at a high resolution. 

If you look at the specs of your printer you will notice that print speed is either measured in ppm or ipm.  **Ppm stands for “pages per minute” and ipm stands for “images per minute”.**  While both sound similar, their calculation is slightly different.  Ppm measures the print speed of a normal page of text – graphics and complex images are not included in the calculation.  Images per minute is considered to be a more accurate way to gauge print speed because it uses the same standard set of Word, Excel and Adobe test pages in its calculation.  Whether your printer uses ppm or ipm to calculate print speed all depends on the printer model.  For example, the Brother MFC-J995DW specs feature a print speed of 12 ppm in black and 10 ppm in color.  Comparatively, the Canon Pixma TR8520 printer specs feature a print speed of 15 ipm in black and 10 ipm in color.

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