Heat transfer vinyl is a printable plastic that can be heat transferred onto surfaces. Printing on heat transfer vinyl requires an expensive wide-format printer that’s usually capable of printing with Solvent, Eco-solvent, or Latex inks. Heat transfer paper on the other hand is a type of paper that works with standard inkjet and laser printers, and accepts the regular pigment, dye, and toner inks they use. Heat transfer vinyl requires a much larger initial investment than heat transfer paper, and can’t be used on the same standard printers you would use with heat transfer paper.