A gatefold is a type of fold used for advertising around a magazine or section, and for packaging of media such as vinyl records.

LP covers

A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records which became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12 inch, or 30 centimetre, square). The technique has been used for many notable LPs, in particular The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Miles Davis's Bitches Brew, and Small Faces' Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. The larger gatefold cover provided a means of including artwork, liner notes, and/or song lyrics that would otherwise not have fit on a standard record cover. Gatefold sleeves were also used when an album contained more than one record (for example, a double album would include one record in each half of the cover).

Gatefold packaging was invented, and first used, by band leader and studio recording pioneer Enoch Light, so he could fit prose he had written describing the sounds in each song on the album sleeve.

In other publishing

Gatefold ads and highlights are often used as extensions of the covers of publications, folded either outside to overlap the cover or inside to unfold when the cover is opened. Similar folds include the split gatefold and the spadea.