Print Permanence

From indoor displays that resist fading for over 200 years, to outdoor prints that achieve up to 5 years display permanence, unlaminated.
Our customers demand both outstanding image quality and long-lasting, durable performance across a wide range of large format printing applications from vehicle wraps to trade show displays to document storage.

To ensure every printing system meets the needs of the customer, HP designs the entire large format printing system—the printer, Original HP inks, and HP large format printing materials— together.

Our customers can print with confidence, knowing that HP’s commitment to rigorous permanence and durability testing ensures reliable, consistent results, print after print.

Durability and Longevity
HP designs and tests all of its ink and large format print media combinations for optimal durability, realizing that different applications require different test requirements. For detailed information on image permanence and durability results for specific printing systems, see “HP Permanence & Durability Testing Details” link below.

Indoor–home and office display¹
A typical application example is HP photo prints, tested to ensure image permanence under common indoor lighting and environmental conditions. HP uses both state-of-the-art internal labs (HP’s Image Permanence Lab) and Wilhelm Imaging Research (WIR) to produce these results.

Indoor–commercial in-window display²
Often, HP prints are displayed in a window receiving partial or direct sunlight likely to increase the degree and rate of image fading. HP Image Permanence Lab testing accounts for this difference from home and office conditions with methodologies designed specifically for in-window display conditions.

Outdoor display³
Signs, banners, billboards, and other outdoor applications are often subjected to harsher environmental factors than typical indoor and in-window display prints. The HP Image Permanence Lab tests according to industry-leading standards, and exposes print samples in real-life conditions at multiple U.S. test sites to account for a range of environmental conditions including temperature, humidity, light and dark, and spray.

Water resistance⁴
Prints can be damaged when exposed to water or by handling when wet. However, many Original HP ink and media combinations produce high-quality, water-resistant prints. HP tests water resistance performance characteristics most important to customers, using ISO and internally developed tests, and considers prints which pass the following tests to be water-resistant: ISO Standing Water, Water Spray, Water Drip, and Wet Smudge.

Qualified lamination solutions
While specific HP ink and media combinations are designed to provide good overall durability and scratch resistance, many customers apply laminates to further protect the surface of valuable prints. HP has developed excellent partnerships and qualification programs for film as well as liquid laminates to ensure that the final, finished print meets the demands of the customer.

In addition to the testing described above, HP also tests for other factors key to image degradation including thermal degradation (dark fade), air fade, and humidity.

Display permanence and water resistance ratings

For the latest print permanence information visit the live table located at: Print Permanence

Note: This chart is based on the display permanence rating of color prints. B&W prints made with these inks typically resist fading longer than color prints.

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Footnotes

¹ Display permanence rating for interior displays/away from direct sunlight, under glass by HP Image Permanence Lab and/or by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. on a range of HP media. For more information, see HPLFMedia.com/hp/printpermanence.

² Interior in-window display ratings by HP Image Permanence Lab on a range of HP media. HP predictions based on test data under Xenon-Arc illuminant—calculation assumes 6,000 Lux/12 hr day.
For more information, see HPLFMedia.com/hp/printpermanence.

³ Outdoor display permanence rating according to SAE J2527; in a vertical display orientation in simulated nominal outdoor display conditions for select high and low climates, including exposure to direct sunlight and water; performance may vary as environmental conditions change.
For more information, see: HPLFMedia.com/hp/printpermanence.

⁴Performance varies based on printer and print profile. Water resistance testing by HP Image Permanence Lab on a range of HP media and follows ISO 18935 method.
For more information, see: HPLFMedia.com/hp/printpermanence.