Printing and non-printing areas of the printing form are virtually on the same level. The printing form is treated with chemicals to make the printing areas water-repellent (hydrophobic) but receptive to ink. The non-printing areas, on the other hand, can be wetted with water (hydrophilic), but not with ink. The principle behind this printing method is based on this contrasting behavior. With the offset method, ink is first applied to a rubber blanket and from there to the printing stock. A variation of offset printing known as four-color halftone printing is often used for films. A printing form is exposed with a negative for each primary color. This is then treated with chemicals as described above so that there are imaging and non-imaging areas.

The offset method is particularly suited to long print runs that can be produced cost-effectively due to the high print speed. It also boasts good to very good resolution. This property is used when making ID cards to apply very fine linear guilloché patterns to the films, which makes it more difficult to duplicate/counterfeit the cards. The same applies to banknotes.