What is bleed for an artwork?
Artwork that extends past the edge of the desired physical size is called a bleed. Bleed is needed only for products that require cutting or trimming to a specific size. For example, replicated hockey rink and rectangular CDs are cut out of a regular standard size CD. In that case bleed will become very important part of the artwork. If your artwork is designed to the exact dimensions of the CD, the tolerance of the cutting tool (the router) may create a white border along the edge. By extending your artwork beyond the physical size, the minor shift of the cutting tool will be covered up by the bleed. The table below summaries the situation when bleed is required.
