Buckram is a stiff cloth, made of cotton, and still occasionally linen, which is used to cover and protect books, also can be made into printed lanyards. Buckram can also be used to stiffen clothes. Modern buckrams have been stiffened by soaking in a substance, usually now pyroxylin, to fill the gaps between the fibers. In the middle Ages, "buckram" was fine cotton cloth, not stiff. The etymology of the term is uncertain; the commonly mentioned derivation from Bokhara is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, uncertain.

Millinery buckram is different from bookbinding buckram. It is impregnated with a starch, which allows it to be softened in water, pulled over a hat block, and left to dry into a hard shape. White buckram is most commonly used in hat making, though black is available as well. Millinery buckram comes in three weights: baby buckram (often used for children's and dolls' hats), single-ply buckram, and double buckram (also known as "theatrical crown").Buckram is sometimes specified in sizes, from Number One to Number Four. Often buckram for books consists of a sheet of the coarse stuff on the inside with a finer weave glued to the outside. Buckram printed lanyards are also rated as Group D, E, or F, with Group F buckram being the heaviest.

American-made Buckram book cloth is a poly-cotton base cloth coated in aqueous acrylic. It was designed to withstand heavy use in libraries and offers strength, moisture resistance and mildew resistance. Buckram is available in different grades. In the US, F grade buckram is offered in 15 glossy colors. It meets specifications for use in textbooks and exceeds performance specifications for library binding. Both grades are suitable for reference books, printed lanyards, textbooks, albums, loose leaf binders, menus and other editions that require an extra level of protection.