ISO/IEC 19798:2025

Information technology - Office equipment - Method for the determination of toner cartridge yield for colour printers and multi-function devices that contain printer components

This document is limited to the evaluation of toner cartridge page yield for toner-containing cartridges (i.e. all-in-one toner cartridges and toner cartridges without a photoconductor) for colour electrophotographic print systems. This document can also be applied to the printer component of any multifunctional device that has a digital input printing path, including multi-function devices that contain electrophotographic printer components. This document is only intended for the measurement of toner cartridge page yield when printing on plain paper using cyan, magenta, yellow and black toner cartridges. No other claims can be made from this testing regarding quality, reliability, etc. This document is not for use with printers whose minimum printable size is equal to or greater than A3 or for photo-only printers. Application of this document for yield measurement of toner replenishment systems (i.e. toner cartridge and bottle type systems where the toner reservoir is internal to the printing system and not user-replaceable) implies some procedural modifications specifically noted herein. This document is intended for equipment used in the office space and does not apply to production volume or large format printing machines where the major cost of ownership is not caused by the consumable yield measured in this document. NOTE 1 An all-in-one toner cartridge is a cartridge that includes at least: a toner containment part, a photoreceptor part and a developer part (see ISO/IEC 29142-1). NOTE 2 This document will be used for the measurement of one of the contributions to cost per page (CPP). This document does not directly measure CPP, only the yield of the magenta, cyan, yellow and black toner cartridges. In most cases, these are not the only contributors to the CPP. It is beyond the scope of this document to provide a methodology for calculation of CPP.

Technologies de l'information — Équipements de bureau — Méthode pour la détermination du rendement de cartouche de toner pour les imprimantes couleur et pour les dispositifs multifonctionnels qui contiennent des composants d'imprimantes

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 19-Nov-2025
• ICS: 37.100.10 - Reproduction equipment
• Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 28 - Office equipment
• Drafting Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 28/WG 2 - Consumables
• Current Stage: 6060 - International Standard published
• Start Date: 20-Nov-2025
• Due Date: 01-Dec-2025
• Completion Date: 20-Nov-2025

Relations

• Revises: ISO/IEC 19798:2017 - Information technology - Office equipment - Method for the determination of toner cartridge yield for colour printers and multi-function devices that contain printer components
• Effective Date: 27-Jan-2024

Overview

ISO/IEC 19798:2025 - "Information technology - Office equipment - Method for the determination of toner cartridge yield for colour printers and multi-function devices that contain printer components" is the fourth edition of the international test method for measuring toner cartridge page yield for colour electrophotographic office printers and the printer components of multi‑function devices (MFDs). The standard defines a repeatable laboratory procedure to measure the usable yield of cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) toner cartridges when printing on plain paper. It is intended for office‑class equipment and excludes A3+ (large format) and photo‑only printers. The document is explicit that the test measures yield only and does not by itself determine print quality, reliability or full cost-per-page (CPP).

Key topics and technical requirements

• Scope and applicability: Applies to toner‑containing cartridges (including all‑in‑one cartridges and cartridges without a photoconductor) and to printer components of MFDs with a digital printing path; special procedural notes for internal toner‑replenishment systems.
• Test setup and conditions: Prescribes installation, driver settings, disabling toner‑save modes and duplex, plain paper media selection, and environmental/test‑room conditions to ensure consistent results.
• Test files and diagnostic pages: Uses the ISO/IEC 24712 colour test pages; individual cartridge yield is determined by counting diagnostic pages (page 5 of the test suite) printed between installation and end‑of‑life and multiplying that count by five.
• End of life criteria: Defined as either a printer‑declared toner out condition or observable fade (noticeable density reduction in diagnostic bars).
• Data analysis and declaration: The declared cartridge yield is derived from test results and reported at or below the lower 90% confidence bound; the standard also specifies required reporting details and forms.
• Procedures for defects: Guidance for handling defective cartridges or printers during testing and annexes with examples (e.g., fade), flow charts, and reporting templates.

Applications and users

• Manufacturers - for product specification, performance claims and documentation.
• Independent test laboratories - to perform repeatable, comparable yield testing.
• Procurement and enterprise IT teams - to compare toner yield across colour printers and MFD models for budgeting and CPP input (note: ISO/IEC 19798 measures yield only).
• Certification bodies and sustainability analysts - to support consumable lifecycle and cost comparisons in office environments.

Related standards

• ISO/IEC 19752 - monochrome toner cartridge yield methodology.
• ISO/IEC 24712 - colour test pages used by ISO/IEC 19798.

Keywords: ISO/IEC 19798:2025, toner cartridge yield, colour printers, multi‑function devices, yield measurement, electrophotographic, CMYK, test methodology, cost per page (CPP).

Standards Content (Sample)

International
Standard
ISO/IEC 19798
Fourth edition
Information technology — Office
2025-11
equipment — Method for the
determination of toner cartridge
yield for colour printers and multi-
function devices that contain
printer components
Technologies de l'information — Équipements de bureau —
Méthode pour la détermination du rendement de cartouche
de toner pour les imprimantes couleur et pour les dispositifs
multifonctionnels qui contiennent des composants d'imprimantes
Reference number
© ISO/IEC 2025
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Test parameters and conditions . 2
4.1 Set-up.2
4.2 Sample size .3
4.3 Print mode .3
4.4 Print environment .4
4.5 Paper .4
4.6 Maintenance .5
4.7 Test file .5
4.8 End of life .5
5 Test methodology . 6
5.1 Testing procedure .6
5.2 Procedure for handling a defective cartridge or printer .6
5.2.1 General .6
5.2.2 Defective cartridge .6
5.2.3 Defective printer .7
6 Determination of the yield value and declaration . 7
6.1 Determination of the declared cartridge yield .7
6.2 Test data reporting .8
6.3 Declaration of the yield .8
Annex A (informative) Examples of fade . 10
Annex B (informative) Flow chart .11
Annex C (normative) Sample reporting form.13
Annex D (normative) Optional method for comparison of colour to ISO/IEC 19752 . 17
Bibliography . 19

© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
iii
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity.
ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations,
governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described
in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types
of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/
IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives or www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs).
ISO and IEC draw attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the
use of (a) patent(s). ISO and IEC take no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any
claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO and IEC had not
received notice of (a) patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers
are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent
database available at www.iso.org/patents and https://patents.iec.ch. ISO and IEC shall not be held
responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions
related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
In the IEC, see www.iec.ch/understanding-standards.
This document was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 28, Office equipment.
This fourth edition cancels and replaces the third edition (ISO/IEC 19798:2017), which has been technically
revised.
The main changes are as follows:
— the note to the term 3.6 “test files” has been moved to 5.1 f);
— the link address of the test files in 4.7 has been updated.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards
body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html and
www.iec.ch/national-committees.

© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
iv
Introduction
The purpose of this document is to provide a process for determining the cartridge page yield for a given
colour electrophotographic print system (i.e. all-in-one toner cartridges and toner cartridges without a
photoconductor) using a standard office consumer type test suite. This test suite is not focused on printing of
photographs, but is intended to be a sampling of typical office consumer pages. In the case where a cartridge
set can be used in multiple printer models, only one yield test is performed as long as the difference between
printer models does not impact yield.
NOTE A cartridge supplier can choose to use more than one market identifier for a single physical cartridge. In
this case, only one yield test is performed as long as there are no differences in the cartridges other than market
identifiers.
This document prescribes the following:
— the test method that manufacturers, test laboratories, etc. used to determine cartridge yield;
— the method for determination of declared yield values from the test results;
— the appropriate method of describing the yield of cartridges in the documentation supplied to the
consumer by the manufacturer.
The cartridge yield is determined by an end of life judgment, or signalled with either of two phenomena:
fade caused by depletion of the useable toner in the cartridge or automatic printing stop caused by a toner
out detection function.
© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
v
International Standard ISO/IEC 19798:2025(en)
Information technology — Office equipment — Method for
the determination of toner cartridge yield for colour printers
and multi-function devices that contain printer components
1 Scope
This document is limited to the evaluation of toner cartridge page yield for toner-containing cartridges (i.e.
all-in-one toner cartridges and toner cartridges without a photoconductor) for colour electrophotographic
print systems. This document can also be applied to the printer component of any multifunctional device
that has a digital input printing path, including multi-function devices that contain electrophotographic
printer components.
This document is only intended for the measurement of toner cartridge page yield when printing on plain
paper using cyan, magenta, yellow and black toner cartridges. No other claims can be made from this testing
regarding quality, reliability, etc.
This document is not for use with printers whose minimum printable size is equal to or greater than A3 or
for photo-only printers.
Application of this document for yield measurement of toner replenishment systems (i.e. toner cartridge and
bottle type systems where the toner reservoir is internal to the printing system and not user-replaceable)
implies some procedural modifications specifically noted herein. This document is intended for equipment
used in the office space and does not apply to production volume or large format printing machines where
the major cost of ownership is not caused by the consumable yield measured in this document.
NOTE 1 An all-in-one toner cartridge is a cartridge that includes at least: a toner containment part, a photoreceptor
part and a developer part (see ISO/IEC 29142-1).
NOTE 2 This document will be used for the measurement of one of the contributions to cost per page (CPP). This
document does not directly measure CPP, only the yield of the magenta, cyan, yellow and black toner cartridges.
In most cases, these are not the only contributors to the CPP. It is beyond the scope of this document to provide a
methodology for calculation of CPP.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes
requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references,
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 19752, Information technology — Method for the determination of toner cartridge yield for
monochromatic electrophotographic printers and multi-function devices that contain printer components
ISO/IEC 24712, Colour test pages for measurement of office equipment consumable yield
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/

© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
3.1
fade
phenomenon whereby a noticeable reduction in density uniformity in the bars around the sides of the
diagnostic page occurs
Note 1 to entry: This does not have to be a distinct gap.
Note 2 to entry: In this test, fade is defined as a noticeably lighter area, 3 mm or greater, located in the bars around the
diagnostic page of the test suite. Generally, the lightening will occur parallel to the paper movement direction during
printing. The determination of the change in lightness is to be made referenced to the 100th page (diagnostic page)
printed for each cartridge in testing. For examples of fade, consult Annex A.
3.2
shake procedure
specified method to carry out the shaking of a cartridge according to the user manual
3.3
toner low
signal generated by the printer when it has been detected that the amount of toner is such that a toner
change will be required soon
Note 1 to entry: It does not indicate that the system is out of toner.
3.4
toner out
signal generated by the printer when the toner in the system is depleted and the printer is incapable of
reliable printing without user intervention
Note 1 to entry: For the purpose of this test, the toner out signal will only be used if it causes the printer to stop
printing and requires toner replacement to continue printing.
3.5
end of life
point when the printer declares “toner out” (3.4) or when fade (3.1) is observed
3.6
individual cartridge yield
value determined by counting the number of diagnostic pages (page 5 of the ISO/IEC 24712 test suite)
printed between the cartridge installation and end of life (3.5) and multiplying by five
3.7
declared cartridge yield
value at or below the lower 90 % confidence bound
Note 1 to entry: Detail of the value is described in 6.1. and 6.3.
4 Test parameters and conditions
4.1 Set-up
Place the printer on a horizontal surface and set up the printer according to the installation guide provided
in the printer user’s manual. Use the most recent printer driver available from the manufacturer's website
or the supplied driver with the printer. The driver version shall be specified on the test report. Cartridge
installation shall be completed following the instructions in the cartridge installation guide. If there is a
contradiction between the printer and cartridge manuals for the cartridge installation, the cartridge manual
will take precedence except if changes are recommended for printer or driver settings.
If the cartridges used in testing are toner replenishment or toner bottle types, then one set of toner
cartridges will be used until reaching the end of life in each printer before the start of the test. The pages

© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
printed to deplete these priming cartridges do not have to be recorded and printing may be conducted at
any environment. The priming cartridges are used to bring the printing system to a set toner level condition.
NOTE The cartridges used to bring the printing system to a set toner level condition do not have to start out full.
For large capacity systems, using a complete cartridge can result in tens of thousands of pages printed just to bring the
system to a set condition.
All image and print quality modifiers shall be set to their factory pre-set configuration for the printer and
default installed condition for the driver. If the printer and driver differ, then the driver defaults shall be
used. Any user-selectable toner-conservation modes shall be disabled during testing. If auto-media detection
is available on the printer, it shall be disabled and media-type set to plain paper. This is to avoid inaccurate
sensing of the media.
For printers that default to duplex printing, the default shall be overridden and the printer shall be set to
simplex for yield testing.
If the printer under test uses an internal PDF interpreter, it is okay to use it as long as the printer defaults are
set to not substitute fonts. If the internal interpreter is used, this shall be noted on the report.
To ensure that the test page is printed correctly, any page size modifiers such as “Fit to Page” and font
substitution shall be turned off. If the option exists, rendering of graphics shall be performed by the printer, not
the application software or operating system. The files shall be printed using the fonts embedded in the file and
shall be printed on the page in a size corresponding to the dimensions in the test suite standard (as specified
in ISO/IEC 24712). Page placement modifiers such as page centring may be used to place the image properly on
the page. If available, any colour management shall be set to the printer and driver installed defaults. If there is
a question about rendering settings affecting the yield, the setting shall be noted in the report.
1)
The application software (i.e. Adobe Acrobat Reader™ ), printer driver and printer can have page size
modifier functions, such as “Fit to Page”. Make sure that all of these functions are disabled.
4.2 Sample size
The sample size shall be determined such that for each calculated yield value, a minimum of nine physical
cartridge sets are tested using a minimum of three printers. An equal number of cartridge sets shall be tested
on each printer. It means three sets of cartridges could be tested on three printers with each printer using
three sets of cartridges. In the case of a typical four-colour printer with four single-colour cartridges, this
would result in at least 36 cartridges being tested, 9 black (K), 9 cyan (C), 9 magenta (M) and 9 yellow (Y).
When testing additional engines and cartridges above the minimum, an effort should be made to test
equal number of cartridges on each engine. For example, if an additional engine were to be tested, then the
minimum number of cartridges to be tested would be 48 (3 cartridges × 4 colours × 4 engines) for a four-
cartridge system.
When testing cartridges for a commercially available product, it is recommended that cartridges and
printers be procured from various sources, or sampled from different production lots. The printers and
cartridges shall be within their useful life as stated in their user’s manual.
It is recommended that additional engines and/or cartridges be used in testing to allow for the possibility of
a cartridge and/or printer failure during testing.
4.3 Print mode
For reporting cartridge yield, the test shall be run in semi-continuous simplex printing and set in the driver
default print mode. Each copy of the test suite shall be printed as a separate five-page print job. This shall
allow for some intra-job calibration and/or servicing to take place. Pauses can take place due to paper refills
and idle time due to end of work days. Every attempt shall be made to have printing be continuous from
the start of a cartridge to the end of cartridge life. If the printer is powered down at the end of day during
testing, this shall be noted on the test report.
1) Adobe Acrobat Reader™ is an example of a suitable product available commercially. This information is given for the
convenience of users of this document and does not constitute an endorsement by ISO or IEC of this product.

© ISO/IEC 2025 – All rights reserved
Colour electrophotographic printers commonly need to calibrate the printing system after a number of
prints, or when the device has been powered down or not used for a given amount of time. This calibration
uses toner that could have been used to print additional pages. It is known that customers do not normally
print in a continuous fashion, but these changes are made to decrease testing time and increase the
repeatability of the testing process. Depending on use conditions, the yield experienced by a given customer
may vary significantly from the yield measured by this test method.
4.4 Print environment
The temperature and humidity can have a profound effect on test results. For this reason, the test shall be
carried out according to the following test conditions:
Temperature: Testing room average 23,0 °C ± 2 °C
Readings shall be made with a running average of 1 h with readings
recorded at least every 15 min; all running average temperatures are to be
between 20,0 °C and 26,0 °C.
Relative humidity (RH): Testing room average 50 % RH ± 10 % RH
Readings shall be made with a running average of 1 h with readings
recorded at least every 15 min; all running average RHs are to be
between 35 % and 65 %.
An example of the calculation of the temperature is shown in Table 1 for temperature readings taken on
15 min intervals for the testin
...