The #6 Business envelope has a width of 6 inches and a height of 3.5 inches, giving it a total surface area of 21 square inches. Its maximum enclosure size is 3.25 x 5.75 inches. This envelope is also known as the 6-1/4 envelope, referring to its width dimension.
The #6 Business envelope gets its number from the numbering system devised by William Irwin Martin in the 1870s. His goal was to standardize envelope sizes across manufacturers. Though the numbers don't directly correlate to dimensions, they provide a consistent labeling system. The #6 became popular as a smaller alternative to the #10 envelope for business mailings. Its compact size made it useful for flyers, brochures, invoices and other commercial mailings. Today it remains one of the most common envelope sizes for transactional and direct mail purposes.