Vinyl Films and Differences in Light Transmission
Anyone with even a passing interest in adhesive films will have run across
the terms opaque, translucent and transparent vinyl.
Naturally, there is no small amount of confusion about what these terms actually
mean. We hope that the infographic above helps to clear things up but, just in
case it hasn't, we'll reproduce the above here:
Types of Vinyl
Opaque Vinyl: Doesn't transmit light at all and cannot be
seen through.
Translucent Vinyl: Diffuses light and has a matte, frosted
appearance. You can see the general outline of items placed behind translucent
films but not the details.
Transparent Vinyl: Transmits light clearly and doesn't
diffuse it. Usually features a glossy face.
Although we didn't include reflective vinyl we could have added this type of film as a subset of opaque film. Light will not pass through reflective films but is reflected back using either a beaded or prismatic reflection technology.