What is total ink coverage (TAC)?
Total ink coverage, or total area coverage (TAC), is the sum of the cyan, magenta, yellow and black percentages at the darkest point of a print file.
What it means for your file
Every press and paper has a maximum, set by the printer: often around 300% on coated paper, 260–280% on uncoated and lower on newsprint. Above it, ink dries slowly, smudges and marks the next sheet.
To check it in Acrobat Pro, open Output Preview (All tools → Use print production), turn on Total Area Coverage and enter your printer’s limit: everything above it is highlighted.
An example
A rich black of C60 M40 Y40 K100 adds up to 240%, comfortably under a 300% limit. Black from an RGB-to-CMYK conversion is often around C75 M68 Y67 K90, which adds up to 300%, and the Registration swatch, 100% of all four inks, adds up to 400%, far over any limit.
A common mistake
Fixing heavy ink by lightening dark colors by eye, which washes them out. The better fix is to convert with the printer’s own color profile, which has their ink limit built in, or to take cyan, magenta and yellow out from under the black, which keeps dark areas looking the same with less ink.
How to fix it
If your printer sent the file back saying “Total ink coverage is too high,” the fix page has the step-by-step way to do it yourself, and a fixed price if you’d rather have it done.
Where else it comes up
Related terms
All print terms in the glossary, or run your file through the free print-ready checker.
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