An image forming apparatus has an image forming carrier, an image forming portion that forms an image on the image forming carrier, an intermediate transfer medium to which the image on the image forming carrier is primarily transferred, and a transfer portion that secondarily transfers to a recording medium the image primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer medium. An area where the image forming carrier and the intermediate transfer medium are opposed includes a primary transfer area where the image on the image forming carrier is transferred to the intermediate transfer medium and a secondary transfer area where the image on the intermediate transfer medium is transferred to the recording medium.