Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat image carrier.

What is lithographic or offset printing?

offset printing, also called offset lithography, or litho-offset, in commercial printing, widely used printing technique in which the inked image on a printing plate is printed on a rubber cylinder and then transferred (i.e., offset) to paper or other material.

Is lithographic printing the same as offset?

Lithography is best described as a planographic process; this is nothing more than a process for printing from a smooth surface, called a plate, to a substrate (generally paper). ... Today lithography is generally called Offset or Offset Lithography; both of these terms refer to the same process.