M-weight Calculator

The metric M-weight refers to the weight of 1000 sheets of paper. This makes sense, since M is the Roman numeral for one thousand, and, wait for it, that’s because M stood for “mille,” the Latin word for “thousand.” Did we just blow your mind? Well,  “M weight” is literally “thousand weight,” with an added hyphen just to keep everything together. M-weight is a measure of the weight of a printed piece or number of pieces based on the given size of the sheet. This consistency and standardization makes it a very useful metric to know. 

When you are preparing to place your paper order, M-weight can help you get a sense of how much it may cost, including the weight for shipping. Having this information can help you decide on the type of paper you want to use for your particular printing task.  

The M-weight is primarily used to help calculate your per 1,000 sheet cost. However, keep in mind that only your Case Paper sales representative can give you the actual price of your order. When you take your price cwt, multiply it by your M-weight and divide that by 100, you get your cost per 1,000 sheets. Most sheetfed printers buy paper per 1,000 sheet cost, so the M-weight is essential.

Using our M-weight calculator is simple: just input the paper grade and size, the basis weight in pounds, and the given sheet size, providing the length in inches as well as the width in inches. Then click, “Calculate M-WT.” Tada! You have your M-weight. 

More of a formula person? You can see the example formula by clicking on the “Formula” button, and, if you really want to, you can plug your values into that. But why would you want to do math, when our calculator can make it easy for you?! We’re happy to save you some brainpower.

Here are some of the most common questions that people outside our industry tend to ask about M-weight, paper ordering, and related topics.

What is the difference between M-weight and Basis Weight? 

One common question is about the difference between M-weight and Basis Weight. As you can see above, basis weight is used to calculate M-weight, (so clearly, they are not the same). As noted above, M-weight refers to the weight of 1,000 sheets of a given type of paper, but basis weight is a bit more complicated. Generally speaking, basis weight is a measure of mass per number of sheets of a specific paper size. Here in the United States (and a few other countries that use the United States’ standard paper sizes), basis weight refers to pounds per ream of 500 (or sometimes 1,000) sheets of a given basis size. Fortunately, we also have a basis weight calculator for your convenience.

What does MWT mean in paper? 

That’s right: M-weight can also be abbreviated MWT (or M-WT). Mystery solved! Now you can get back to being “On the Case” to figure out who stole your yogurt from the break room fridge.

What does the M mean when ordering paper?

If you’ve read this far, you probably know the answer to this one, but let’s spell it out anyway, for those of you who like to skip to the good part. The M means 1,000, and stands for M-weight, which is the weight of 1,000 cut sheets of a particular type of paper!

What is the formula for the weight of paper? How do you calculate the weight of paper?

As with so many things in life, the answer is, “It depends!” How much paper? Is it on a ream or in sheets? If the combined answers to these questions is, “1,000 sheets,” then you’ll probably want to use our M-weight calculator. Or you can check out our calculators page to find the best calculator for your paper needs! 

Remember that the weight of different types of paper will vary, so you will need to know the type of paper in order to calculate the M-weight correctly. Other things you need to know about the paper are its basis weight in pounds, the size of the cut sheet (length and width in inches), and the paper grade and size. If all this makes your head spin, we don’t blame you! When you choose Case Paper, our awesome sales representatives will be happy to help.

How much does [some specific number of] sheets of paper weigh? 

Good question! We would counter with, what kind of paper is it? You know what we’re going to say here; if you’re trying to find out the weight of 1,000 sheets of paper, that’s the M-weight, so you can use the formula above or our M-weight calculator to figure that out! 

Who made these super helpful calculators?

Thank you for asking! We are Case Paper, a family-owned paper and paperboard company in operation for over 80 years! We pride ourselves on being “On the Case” to get our customers exactly what they need, so we made these handy calculators to make sure our customers can easily calculate all things paper-related! 

Case Paper offers high-quality paper and paperboard for commercial customers. Through our mill partnerships, we sustainably source our products to meet the unique needs of your printing, packaging, or publishing businesses. With over 80 years of experience, we are passionate paper people who live to share our knowledge (seriously, don’t get us talking about paper or we might never stop!) Learn more about Case Paper and contact us today to get started. We will get you connected to a sales representative who can provide specific pricing information and answer all of your questions about our products!