Uniformly light or washed-out printing — as opposed to streaks or lines — is a different symptom with its own set of causes, and it's almost always related to ink or toner rather than a genuine hardware fault.
This sounds obvious, but it's the actual cause more often than anything else on this list — low ink or toner produces exactly this kind of uniform fading rather than a hard stop, since printers keep printing at reduced output as they run low rather than refusing outright. Check levels through the printer's app or control panel before assuming anything else.
Most print dialogs have a quality setting — Draft, Normal, Best/High — and Draft mode is specifically designed to use less ink for faster, cheaper printing, which looks exactly like fading if you weren't expecting it. Check your printer settings (usually under "Preferences" or "Print Quality" in the print dialog) and confirm it's not set to Draft.
Separate from the quality setting, many printers have a dedicated economy or toner-saving mode that intentionally reduces density — check your printer's settings menu specifically for this, since it's easy to have enabled once and forgotten about.
If ink levels and settings check out, a partially clogged print head (inkjet) or unevenly distributed toner (laser) can cause fading. Run the built-in cleaning function from your printer's utility software or control panel, then print a test page to check if it improved.
Toner that's settled unevenly inside the cartridge (common if it's been sitting unused for a while) can cause fading until redistributed — remove the cartridge and gently rock it side to side several times before reinstalling.
Persistent fading despite full ink/toner, correct settings, and a completed cleaning cycle can point to a genuinely worn print head or, on laser printers, a failing toner cartridge that isn't distributing evenly even after redistribution — at that point, replacing the ink or toner cartridge itself is the next real step, since the fix rarely lies deeper than that.
That's a different, related issue — see the dedicated guide.
See the streaks and lines guideWhen it's lines and streaks rather than overall fading.
Read the article →The correct order of steps, from cleaning cycle to soak.
Read the article →What actually moves the needle on cost per page.
Read the article →