An image forming apparatus includes: a developing device which applies a
developing bias voltage obtained by superimposing an AC bias voltage onto
a DC bias voltage to a photoreceptor, and develops a latent image on the
photoreceptor with a developer to form a toner image. The apparatus has a
toner forced discharge mode for forming a toner image for forced
discharge in a first image formation area provided in a non-image
formation area other than a second image formation area on the
photoreceptor to forcibly discharge a toner from the developing device.
When the mode is selected, an AC bias voltage at a frequency lower than
that in the second image formation area is applied to the first image
formation area to develop a latent image for forced discharge, to form a
toner image, and a toner of the toner image is collected by a cleaning
device.