Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensive consumer models to expensive professional machines. By 2019, laser printers outsold inkjet printers by nearly a 2:1 ratio, 9.6% vs 5.1% of all computer peripherals.
A typical inkjet printer
A Canon inkjet with CMYK cartridges
Piezoelectric printing nozzle of an EPSON C20 printer
Howtek style inkjet nozzle (tubular piezo not shown)
In computing, a printer is a peripheral machine which makes a persistent representation of graphics or text, usually on paper. While most output is human-readable, bar code printers are an example of an expanded use for printers. Different types of printers include 3D printers, inkjet printers, laser printers, and thermal printers.
HP LaserJet 5 printer
The Game Boy Pocket Printer, a thermal printer released as a peripheral for the Nintendo Game Boy
This is an example of a wide-carriage dot matrix printer, designed for 14-inch (360 mm) wide paper, shown with 8.5-by-14-inch (220 mm × 360 mm) legal paper. Wide carriage printers were often used in the field of businesses, to print accounting records on 11-by-14-inch (280 mm × 360 mm) tractor-feed paper. They were also called "132-column printers".
Liquid ink cartridge from Hewlett-Packard HP 845C inkjet printer