Abstract: An area exposure apparatus for exposing a text on a recording carrier and a method for the area exposure is disclosed. In accordance with the device configuration, text is exposed on a recording carrier (12) which continuously moved forward in a forward move direction. To this end, the recording carrier is scanned over a maximum area and consequently exposed by means of an intensity modulated laser beam along scanning lines (Z1, Z2) at right angles relative to the forward move direction, and coupled in a predetermined manner to the forward movement. The scanning lines formed by the scanning extend over a plurality of characters of the text. For the exposure of the recording carrier with a text which exceeds a given length to width ratio, and has a predetermined narrower width than the recording carrier, which is hence relatively narrow, the recording carrier (12) is shifted in the direction of the lines of the text and at the same time is scanned in the direction of the height of the characters of the text.