Guide
Card sleeve sizes explained
There are two sleeve sizes that matter. Standard sleeves are 66 × 91 mm and fit the 63.5 × 88.9 mm cards used by Magic, Pokémon, Lorcana, One Piece and sports cards. Japanese sleeves are 62 × 89 mm and fit the smaller 59 × 86 mm cards used by Yu-Gi-Oh! and Cardfight!! Vanguard.
Two standards, not one
Nearly every sizing mistake comes from assuming there is a single trading card size. There are two in common use, and they are different enough that a sleeve for one is visibly wrong on the other.
Standard size — sometimes called poker size — is a card of 2½ × 3½ inches, or 63.5 × 88.9 mm. Ultimate Guard's standard sleeves for these measure 66 × 91 mm, and the games listed on their own packaging are Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, Lorcana, One Piece and Flesh and Blood.
Japanese size, also called small size, is a smaller card of roughly 59 × 86 mm. The sleeves are 62 × 89 mm, and manufacturers list Yu-Gi-Oh! and Cardfight!! Vanguard as the games that use them.
Why the sleeve is bigger than the card
A sleeve is always a few millimetres larger than the card it holds, and that gap is deliberate. It lets the card go in without scraping the edges on the way, and it leaves room for the card to sit without pressure on its corners.
Too much gap is a problem of its own. A card that can shift inside its sleeve wears at the corners as it moves, producing the whitening the sleeve was bought to prevent. This is the same reason toploader thickness matters — protection that does not fit is protection that abrades.
Inner sleeves change the maths
Inner sleeves, widely known by Dragon Shield's "Perfect Fit" name, are sized close to the card itself. Their Perfect Fit inner sleeves are made for 63 × 88 mm cards and the thick version is 100 µm of polypropylene.
Used underneath a normal sleeve, they seal the card at both ends: the card goes into the inner sleeve, then into the outer sleeve from the opposite direction so neither opening is exposed.
The cost is bulk. Two layers of plastic per card measurably thickens a deck, which affects shuffling and whether the deck still fits a box rated for single-sleeved cards.
Rigid holders are sized by thickness, not by area
Once you move past sleeves, sizing switches units. Toploaders and semi-rigid holders are sold by point thickness, where one point is 0.001 inch, or 0.0254 mm.
Standard TCG cards and modern base sports cards fall in the 20–35 pt range and fit a regular toploader. Thicker stock — relics, patches, heavy premium cards — climbs past that, and manufacturers make holders in tiers running into the hundreds of points.
PSA's semi-rigid holders are stated to fit cards up to 2½ × 3½ inches and up to 35 points of thickness, which is the constraint that matters if you are preparing a submission.
Common questions
- What size sleeves do Pokémon cards need?
- Standard size, 66 × 91 mm. Pokémon cards are standard size regardless of the language they were printed in, so the same sleeves fit English and Japanese cards alike.
- Are Japanese Pokémon cards smaller than English ones?
- No. Manufacturers list Pokémon under standard size with no language qualifier, and their Japanese-size sleeve lines name only Yu-Gi-Oh! and Cardfight!! Vanguard. Some hobby sites repeat the claim that Japanese Pokémon cards are smaller, but sleeve makers do not treat them as a separate size.
- What size sleeves do Yu-Gi-Oh! cards need?
- Japanese size, 62 × 89 mm, for a card of roughly 59 × 86 mm. Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are smaller than Magic and Pokémon cards, so a standard 66 × 91 mm sleeve will be noticeably loose on them.
- What does 35 pt mean on a toploader?
- Point thickness. One point equals 0.001 inch (0.0254 mm), so a 35 pt holder fits a card up to 0.035 inches thick. Most standard TCG and modern base sports cards fall between 20 and 35 pt.