Printer manufacturers indicate what cartridges are recommended for each printer, but it is no secret that many other printer cartridges may work in a particular printer.  You may choose to use different cartridges depending on price, availability or other factors.

However, understanding which cartridges work in which printers requires a reliable cross reference.  Knowing you can use an alternate cartridge can save you money, but making the wrong choice can be costly.  Some important factors are:

• Printer models that look the same on the outside may require different supplies, but sometimes machines that are totally different can use the same supplies.
• Sometimes, otherwise-identical cartridge types are intentionally "keyed" ("keyed" cartridges) by making some small change to the physical package so you can not interchange the supplies. It may be a magnetic strip, a tab positioned in different location.
• More invisibly, otherwise identical cartridges may contain microchips ("chipped" cartridges) that prevent them from being used in other machines.
• Some manufacturers buy print engines from other manufacturers.  In this case, OEM printer supplies for one model may be an exact replacement for OEM printer supplies designed for a machine from a different manufacturer altogether.
• Some aftermarket manufacturers sell supplies that are called "universal" supplies, because they work with a broader range of printers than the OEM supplies.  If you don't know what works with what, you lose the advantage of the versatility of universals.