Creating a printed sheet directly from digital files, digital desktop printers use a variety of digital processes for print output, depending on the manufacturer. The most commonly used print processes for print output in digital desktop printers are electrophotography and ink-jet technologies.

The primary difference between a desktop printer and a copier in terms of the resulting document output is that the digital desktop printer has the capability of creating a completely different image for every impression that is produced and the copier does not, unless it is a multifunctional unit. Desktop printers could be considered smaller versions of digital presses because of some similarities in technology. Some models are truly "desktop" printers, while others are known as digital printers because of their larger size. Some of these larger models may range in size from small floor models to larger, high-volume production machines.

The distinction between the larger printers and digital presses begins to blur, as does the distinction between some desktop printers and some digital copiers, because so many units on the market are multifunctional. These devices combine printing, scanning, copying, and faxing in one unit and many models have the capability of photo printing directly from the digital card.