A printer that prints one entire line at a time. Print quality is low compared with a laser printer. Line printers typically use sprocket feed and wide fanfold paper.

Line printer speed is usually measured in lines per minute (lpm). 1200 lpm is a good rate for a line printer like a 3205 m5. 66 lines per page is typical, giving 18 pages per minute (ppm). This assumes all upper case, if a mixed case print train is used, throughput is halved. By comparison, a fast laser printer can output 100+ ppm