Abstract: An image forming apparatus and an image forming method are provided. The image forming apparatus includes: a communication interface which receives printing data; an image former which performs a printing process by using the received printing data; a counter which counts the number of jobs performed in a printing process; a non-volatile memory which stores the number of counted jobs; and a controller which, if a printing process is not performed for a preset time, resets the stored number of jobs to zero, and, if the stored number of jobs is higher than or equal to a preset value, changes an operation mode of the image forming apparatus to a cooling mode.