Aluminum Can Sizes, Shapes, and their role in Beverage Packaging

How Aluminum Cans Shape Production, Packaging, and Customer Experience

According to Wikipedia, approximately 480 billion aluminum cans are produced globally each year, making aluminum cans one of the most ubiquitous forms of beverage packaging. Despite their simple appearance, modern aluminum beverage cans are engineered products. Every aspect of a can’s design—height, diameter, wall thickness, and body profile—directly impacts how the product is filled, conveyed, packaged, and ultimately perceived by customers.

For more than three decades, Codi Manufacturing has been an integral part of the aluminum can market and canning equipment ecosystem. Our company began by building high-throughput conveyance systems for major can makers like Reynolds (a predecessor to today’s Ball/Reynolds can divisions), Anheuser-Busch, and can component suppliers such as Stolle, whose tooling and conversion systems power much of the global aluminum can industry.

Those early relationships shaped Codi’s approach to automation: engineered solutions built to last and designed around real production demands. Today, that same experience informs our work across can conveyance, can cleaning, can filling, labeling, handling, palletizing, depalletizing, and complete packaging-line integration.

With this background, we offer a basic primer on aluminum cans. The key takeaway: Codi can effectively package cans from small 150 ml formats to large 24 oz beverage cans and virtually everything in between. Although outside the scope of this blog post, Codi also supports specialty formats such as ROPP and other non-standard can shapes.

How the Modern Aluminum Can Evolved

The two-piece aluminum beverage can—drawn and ironed from a single aluminum disc and sealed with an easy-open lid—emerged in the late 1950s. By the 1980s, aluminum beverage cans had effectively displaced steel cans because aluminum’s inherent characteristics make it lighter, corrosion-resistant, fully recyclable, and better suited for high-speed seaming on modern canning lines.

During these decades, Codi played a supporting role by building custom conveyors, can cleaning ionizers, counter-pressure inline filling machines, and pasteurizers that moved billions of cans through forming, cleaning, decorating, and packaging operations. That heritage built our understanding of can geometry, line behavior, and why even small dimensional differences matter in canning and packaging equipment performance.

Why Can Size Matters to Beverage Producers

Choosing the right can size and shape affects:

• Production efficiency

• Filling and seaming setup

• Line handling through rinsers, conveyors, and palletizers

• Branding and shelf impact

• Cost of goods and material usage

• **Multipack design and distribution

• Consumer expectations and portion control

Common Aluminum Can Sizes

5.1 oz / 150 ml (Mini / Short Can)

Common in: sparkling water, aperitifs, ready-to-drink (RTD) spirits, kid-focused beverages, airline and hospitality service.

Why brands choose it: Very small, controlled portion that signals premium or specialty positioning. Ideal for high-intensity flavors or higher-ABV products where moderation and waste reduction matter.

8–8.4 oz (Mini / Short Can)

Common in: energy drinks, functional beverages, high-ABV cocktails, wellness drinks.

Why brands choose it: Balanced portion size with strong portability and a premium feel. Appeals to functional and wellness categories where standard 12 oz cans may feel oversized.

12 oz (Standard Can)

Common in: beer, soda, seltzer, tea, sparkling water.

Why brands choose it: The most recognizable can size in the U.S. Easy to palletize, package, and run at high throughput on most canning equipment. Nearly all can filling machines support it natively.

16 oz (Tallboy / Pint Can)

Common in: craft beer, RTD cocktails, specialty releases.

Why brands choose it: A “pint-like” experience with more branding real estate. Strong retail presence and rapid growth in premium beverage categories.

19.2 oz (Stovepipe Can)

Common in: convenience-store singles, high-ABV beers, RTD cocktails.

Why brands choose it: A unique single-serve size that balances volume and convenience, designed for on-the-go consumption.

24 oz (Silo / Tallerboy Can)

Common in: value brands, malt beverages, convenience-store beverages.

Why brands choose it: Maximizes volume per unit with minimal packaging complexity—popular for events, tailgates, and large gatherings.

32 oz (Crowler Can)

Common in: taprooms, breweries, limited releases.

Why brands choose it: Hand-packed cans sealed on demand using bartop canning machines. While convenient, manually sealed cans introduce more oxygen, which accelerates oxidation and shortens shelf life.

Can Body Styles

Volume is the most obvious part of can design, but body style also provides marketing cues to consumers:

Standard Cans

Classic shape used for 12 oz and 16 oz formats.

Benefits: Universally compatible with conveyors, rinsers, twist systems, seamers, and multipack equipment.

Slim Cans

Narrower and taller—often 12 oz or 250 ml format.

Used for: seltzers, energy drinks, functional beverages.

Benefits: Modern appearance, strong vertical shelf impact, differentiation from standard beer formats.

Sleek Cans

Slightly wider than slim cans but still narrower than standard.

Used for: RTD cocktails, premium beverages.

Benefits: Differentiation without dramatic equipment changes.

Crowler Cans

Large-format aluminum cans sealed on demand.

Used for: brewery take-home programs.

Benefits: Convenient way to package if a professional canning machine is not an option, just make sure customers are aware of the potential for a very short shelf-life.

How Producers Choose the Right Can Format

1. Brand Positioning

• Slim or sleek formats convey premium, modern, clean aesthetics

• Tallboy formats support craft or specialty branding

• Standard cans signal classic and familiar offerings

2. Consumer Behavior

Smaller cans reinforce portion control; larger cans appeal to convenience-store buyers and on-the-go consumers.

3. Operational Compatibility

Because Codi has decades of experience with can makers and can-component processes, our canning equipment is built to handle a wide range of can formats:

• Quick changeovers on can filling machines

• Can cleaning systems optimized for slim, sleek, and standard profiles

• Vacuum and ionized-air rinsers configurable for small to large diameters

• Depalletizers adaptable to virtually any can geometry

• Conveyance engineered around friction, mass flow, and profile variations

4. Cost & Supply Chain

Standard formats reduce sourcing complexity. Specialty shapes increase brand differentiation but may require changes to carriers, spacers, or labeling systems.

5. Sustainability & Shipping Efficiency

Lightweighting, wall thinning, and pallet pattern optimization all affect material use and freight cost. Can choice influences both.

The Engineering Behind the Can

Modern cans use two-piece drawn-and-ironed construction. This manufacturing approach allows:

• Extremely thin yet strong aluminum walls

• Precise dimensional uniformity (critical for packaging automation)

• High-speed production rates

• Reliable seaming and structural integrity

• Efficient material usage and recyclability

Interior polymer linings protect beverage quality and prevent corrosion—especially critical for acidic or carbonated drinks.

Codi’s early systems were installed on lines that formed, washed, decorated, and packaged aluminum cans for major producers. Through our work with Reynolds, Stolle, and other partners, we developed a detailed understanding of:

• Can wall behavior

• Body stability during mass flow

• Twist geometry and handling

• Palletizing/depalletizing patterns

• Changeover challenges across can profiles

• How dimensional changes influence line performance

This experience is the foundation of the canning line automation, from twist rinses and lowerators to vacuum conveyors, depalletizers, palletizers, and turnkey material-handling systems we build today.

Final Thoughts

Aluminum cans may appear simple, but their dimensions and structure play a major role in product quality, production efficiency, and consumer experience. As new beverage categories emerge—RTDs, seltzers, non-alcoholic offerings—the range of can sizes and shapes continues to expand.

Choosing a format is not just a packaging decision. It’s a manufacturing decision, a branding decision, and a cost decision.

With decades of experience in the canning equipment and packaging industry, Codi offers unique insight into how cans behave in real production environments. Whether you’re launching a new product or upgrading your line, we can help you evaluate formats, optimize throughput, and design equipment that handles today’s cans—whatever their size or shape—with reliability and precision.