What is a resin-coated photo paper?

A resin-coated inkjet photo paper (also known as a “true photobase”) is a high-quality paper base that has been encapsulated in two thin layers of polyethylene. The back layer is clear; the surface layer is pigmented white to improve the brightness of the image. Resin-coated photo papers are the same types of papers used in silver-halide darkroom processing. They provide excellent gloss, smoothness, whiteness, and opacity and prevent waviness (“cockling”) from heavy ink loads. A resin-coated photo paper can have either a swellable ink-receptive coating (for dye inks) or a porous ink-receptive coating (for dye or pigment inks).