Though few households and offices actually need them, wide-format printers are specialized printing devices that are in high demand. These wide-format printers address a requirement for special printing jobs that regular printers cannot produce.
Such printing jobs are usually architectural, engineering or artistic in nature. Examples of printing jobs requiring wide-format printers are engineering or architectural drafts and sketches, banners and general signage, posters, picture enlargements and other large prints. Typically, wide-format printers make prints that are 17 to 100 inches wide. The printing materials used for wide-format printers usually come in rolls rather than in individual sheets.
Wide-format printers are not machines commonly found in homes or offices. They are more often found in offices where companies prefer to do their own printing jobs, or in print shops or copy shops. Many people find it more desirable to have their large format printing needs done with a wide-format printer rather than, say, through screen printing because it is more economical to do so.
Different brands of wide-format printers make use of different types of printing technology, based largely on what they are meant to be used for. Some wide-format printers are inkjet printers, while some are laser printers. There are also wide-format printers that use thermal transfers in making prints, and there are some that use electrostatic instead.
There are many manufacturers of wide-format printers, but among the leaders in the industry are Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Kip, Xerox and Oce.
