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A 2 Panel CD jacket is the simplest CD packaging format: one score down the center creates a single front panel and a single back panel, the same fold as a basic greeting card. There's no room for an interior insert, which keeps the design straightforward. Cover art up front, track list or contact details on the back. It's the most economical jacket option in the range and a practical choice for single-release promos, demo discs or any project where a compact two-sided sleeve is all the content needs.
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A CD jacket is a printed paperboard sleeve that wraps around a disc, and the 2 panel version is the entry point into the format: a single center score divides the flat sheet into two panels, front and back, with no additional fold or insert page. It's built the same way a folded greeting card is built, just sized to hold a disc rather than a message, and it's the format most people picture when they think of a simple CD sleeve.
That simplicity is what keeps the cost down. Because there's only one panel of space on each side, the design has to work harder within a small footprint. Most 2 panel jackets carry cover artwork on the front and essential information, a track list, credits, or contact details, on the back. The disc itself is usually held either by a die-cut slit near the spine or by a small adhesive or paperboard hub in the center panel, both of which we can set up during design.
This format is a common choice for single-track releases, demo discs, promotional giveaways, event or wedding photo discs, and any software or media disc where the packaging just needs to look finished and hold the disc securely, not carry pages of liner notes. Independent musicians releasing a single or an EP, small studios distributing sample reels, and businesses handing out a disc of files at a trade show all tend to reach for this size before anything larger.
Because there's no interior panel, print files need to be laid out with the fold line and any die-cut disc slot marked clearly, and artwork intended to reach the edge of the panel should extend past the trim line to avoid a thin white border after cutting. Stock is generally a lightweight, coated paperboard that folds cleanly along the score without cracking; gloss lamination adds shine and scuff resistance for a jacket that will be handled often, while matte gives a more subdued, print-forward finish. If the project calls for a booklet-style insert, printed spine text, or more room for liner notes and photos, a 4 or 6 panel jacket is worth considering instead.
A jacket has to fold crisply and then hold its shape while a disc is pushed in and out of it, which puts the useful range fairly narrow. Too light and the jacket creases and the pocket gapes; too heavy and the folds crack and the finished piece will not sit flat in a sleeve or a mailer. Coated cover weights around 250 to 300gsm are where almost all of this work lands.
Why not use a heavier board? It cracks at the fold and stops lying flat. A jacket is a folded sheet, not a box. The stock has to bend cleanly.
Full color on both sides is the norm, and the inside panels matter more here than on most folded products because they are seen every time the disc is taken out. Track listings, credits, sleeve notes and artwork all live there. Any content that has to align across a fold needs to be built against the panel plan rather than laid out as a flat spread.
Should the inside be printed? Yes. It is seen every time the disc is removed, which is more often than the back cover is ever looked at.
Every fold is scored before it is folded, because coated cover stock at this weight cracks visibly along an unscored crease. On jackets with more than one fold the panels are also stepped (each inner panel cut fractionally narrower than the one outside it) so the jacket closes flat instead of bulging at the fore-edge.
Why does my jacket bulge when closed? Equal panel widths. Inner panels have to be cut slightly narrower so they nest, that stepping is what makes a multi-fold jacket close properly.
A jacket holds the disc in a pocket formed by gluing part of one panel, or in a simple open sleeve. The pocket depth and the glue line decide whether a disc slides out easily or has to be prised, and prising is how discs get scratched. Where a jacket carries more than one disc, each needs its own pocket rather than sharing one.
How do I stop the disc being scratched? A thumb notch and a correctly sized pocket. A tight pocket with no notch forces people to drag the disc against the card.
A single score down the center giving one front panel and one back panel. The simplest jacket there is. It carries cover artwork on the outside and a track listing or short note inside, with the disc held in a pocket formed on one of the inner faces. It is the cheapest and fastest format, and for a single disc with minimal accompanying content it is entirely sufficient.
Is two panels enough? For a cover, a track list and one disc, yes. If you need credits, notes and images as well, four panels is the step up.
Ask for samples before a run. How a stock takes a score and whether it closes flat are physical properties you cannot judge on screen.
A blunt rule pressed into the sheet before folding. At cover weights this is not optional. An unscored fold on coated stock cracks white along its full length the first time it is closed.
A bonded film, worth it on anything sold at retail or handled repeatedly. It also stiffens the pocket slightly, which helps the jacket keep its shape after the disc has been taken out a few dozen times.
An aperture cut through a panel so the disc face or an inner panel shows through. It is the most effective way to make a folded card jacket look designed rather than economical.
The pocket glued along its edges to the depth the disc needs, with a thumb notch cut so the disc can be lifted rather than dragged out against the card.
Same family, genuinely different jobs. Your current selection is highlighted.
| Jacket | From | Panels | Order it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Panel CD Jackets | $170 | One fold, front and back | A cover, a track list and one disc |
| 4 Panel CD Jackets | $245 | Two folds, interior spread | Credits and notes need real room |
| 6 Panel CD Jackets | $290 | Three folds, double interior | Lyrics, photography or two discs |
| Custom CD Jackets | $170 | Your fold plan and pockets | The fixed panel counts do not fit |
For cover artwork, a track listing and a single disc, yes, and it is the cheapest and quickest jacket to produce. If you also need credits, notes and images, the four-panel format is the natural step up rather than cramming.
In a pocket formed on one of the inner faces, glued along its edges. Pocket depth is set against an actual disc so it slides in and out without being forced.
Yes, and it should be. The inside is seen every time the disc is taken out, which is far more often than anyone looks at the back cover.
Yes, folded and flat it is a standard footprint. If it is being posted in quantity, mention it and we will confirm the finished thickness against your mailer before printing.
Pricing for 2 panel cd jackets starts at $170 and moves with quantity, size, material and finish rather than sitting on a fixed list. Setup is shared across the run, so the per-unit price drops steeply as the quantity rises: the gap between a few hundred and a few thousand is usually the significant one. Send the size, quantity and what it has to do and you get a firm figure back, not a range.
There is a practical minimum rather than a hard one. Every run carries artwork checks, a proof and a press setup, so a very small quantity of 2 panel cd jackets prices poorly per unit even though we will still make it. If you are ordering a small batch, ask for pricing at two or three quantities at once: the curve usually shows that a modest increase costs very little more in total.
The clock starts when you approve the proof, not when the order is placed, which is the part most people are surprised by. You get a proof first: a digital proof showing the flat sheet with score lines and pocket glue areas, plus the panel sequence in the order someone actually opens it. Nothing prints until you approve it. Turnaround after approval depends on the finish: anything laminated, foiled or die-cut adds a stage that cannot be compressed without causing problems later. Tell us the date you actually need them and we will work backwards from it rather than quoting a generic lead time.
Print-ready artwork with bleed and a safe margin, supplied as a PDF, AI or EPS. Photographic elements should be supplied at the resolution the finished size needs, not the resolution that looks sharp on screen. If your file is not print-ready, say so when you order. We would rather fix it before the proof than after the run.
Yes. One fold, front and back is the standard build, and the dimensions around it are yours to set. A size that sits efficiently on the press sheet often costs no more than a standard one, while an awkward proportion that wastes half the sheet does. Ask before you commit and we will tell you whether a small change to the dimensions saves a disproportionate amount.
In most cases they are the same product under a different name: the trade uses several terms for it depending on the region and the supplier. What actually defines this one is the build: one fold, front and back. Order it when a cover, a track list and one disc. If you have seen it called 2 panel cd jackets printing elsewhere, describe what it has to do rather than which name you found, and we will match the specification.
Yes. We provide free samples, and on 2 panel cd jackets it is worth asking for one, because the difference between coated cover and coated cover is obvious in the hand and invisible on a screen. Most orders run on coated cover, but ask for whichever you are weighing up. You also get a free design proof before anything goes to press, so nothing is printed that you have not seen.
The usual choices are scoring, lamination, die-cut window. Finish is not decoration on this product so much as a decision about how long it survives and how it reads in the hand, so it is worth choosing against the job rather than the budget. Tell us where the finished piece ends up and we will say which finish is doing real work and which is only adding cost.
Yes, and that is what almost every order here is. Nothing in this catalogue is a stock item: 2 panel cd jackets are manufactured to the specification you give us, with your artwork on them. Send your logo as vector artwork where you have it, since that scales to any size without softening. If all you have is a low-resolution file, tell us and we will say what it needs before it reaches the press.
Yes, and a repeat run is simpler than the first one. We keep your approved specification on file, so a reorder skips the setup decisions and goes straight to production. If nothing about the artwork or the specification has changed, there is nothing to re-approve. Tell us the previous order and we will match it rather than starting the specification again.
Yes. Regalo Print has been producing custom commercial print for businesses across the USA and Canada since 2008, and every order ships tracked. The tracking number reaches you the day the job leaves, not the day it arrives. If you are working to a fixed date, say so when you order so the production schedule is built around the delivery date rather than the other way round.
