Digest Size

Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately 5½ x 8¼ inches, but can also be 5⅜ x 8⅜ inches and 5½ x 7½ inches. These sizes have evolved from the printing press operation end. Some printing presses refer to digest-size as a "catalog size," such as that used by Avon Products when selling house to house. The digest format was considered to be a convenient size for readers to tote around or to leave on the coffee table within easy reach.

The most famous digest-sized magazine is Reader's Digest, from which the size appears to have been named. TV Guide also used the format from its inception in 1953 until 2005. CoffeeHouse Digest is a national magazine distributed free-of-charge at coffeehouses throughout the United States. Bird Watcher's Digest is an international magazine which has retained the digest size since its creation in 1978.

Digest size is less popular now than it once was. Besides TV Guide dropping it in favor of a larger format, the Analog and Asimov's science fiction magazines had switched to a format slightly larger than digest size several years earlier. The main publications remaining in digest size now are Reader's Digest and some Archie comics digests. Children's Digest was originally in digest size but switched long ago to a larger format as well (though keeping the word "Digest" in its name). Writer's Digest is another publication with the word in its name that is not actually produced at that size.