Q en A: Can I print your labels with a thermal printer?
Would you like to print your own labels using a thermal printer? You can! At unieketiket.nl, you will find various materials that are suitable for direct thermal and thermal transfer printing. Discover the difference between the two techniques and which material is best suited to your printer and application.
Team • 2026-01-09
The answer to the question whether our labels are printable with thermal printers: Yes, a number of materials within our range are suitable for printing with a thermal printer. There is a distinction here between thermal direct printers and thermal transfer printer technology.
A direct thermal printer does not use ink, but a special heat-sensitive paper that turns black on contact with heat. The printer has a print head with heated elements that can put the image to be printed on the thermally sensitive material. The paper discolors at the positions in contact with the hot printer elements. In this way, desired fonts and patterns can be printed. Unfortunately, prints different colors is not possible with direct thermal printing, only monochrome black can be printed.
We are happy to produce printed or blank labels for use with a thermal direct printer. You can order the paper for direct transfer printer online in our calculator, please choose the material: thermal direct printing paper 70g FSC mix credit.
Please consult the roll specifications of your thermal direct printer prior to ordering.
Thermal transfer printers print text or an image onto an adhesive label or tag using heat and an ink ribbon. This type of printing is ideal for on-site printing of actual data such as bar codes, expiration dates, etc, on your product labels. For thermal transfer printing, you need a special printer with matching thermal transfer print ribbon. Due to the printing principle, thermal transfer printing allows only one color to be printed simultaneously – the color of the ribbon used. No special label material is required with thermal transfer printers, although not all materials are suitable. Labels printed with a thermal transfer printer are of higher quality and last longer than labels printed with direct thermal printers, both in terms of the label or sticker material used and the printing itself.
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