What Ink Does the Brother MFC-J6555DW Use?

Quick answer: The Brother MFC-J6555DW uses Brother LC406 or LC406XL ink cartridges in black, cyan, magenta and yellow — four individual cartridges. The XL versions roughly double the black and more than triple each color, so they are much cheaper per page. There is no LC406XXL, whatever some listings suggest.

Brother MFC-J6555DW Ink Cartridges at a Glance

The MFC-J6555DW handles 11x17 printing, copying, scanning and faxing for a busy office, and Brother rates its in-box ink at roughly a year at 300 pages a month.

Standard vs. XL: Which Should You Buy?

The XL, for almost anyone. Black rises from roughly 3,000 pages to 6,000, and each color from about 1,500 to 5,000 — more than triple — for a price increase nowhere near that. On a printer built around low running costs, buying standard cartridges undoes much of the point.

These are already generous yields by inkjet standards. A 6,000-page black cartridge is in laser territory, which is exactly what Brother's INKvestment Tank design is aiming at. Run the numbers for your own volume with our Printer Ink Cost Calculator.

There Is No LC406XXL — Don't Let a Listing Fool You

You will see LC406XXL cartridges advertised. Brother does not make one. The US lineup for this printer family is LC406 and LC406XL only, and Brother's own cartridge pages confirm 6,000 pages as the top black tier.

The confusion comes from the newer LC506 family, which does include an XXL and fits different machines such as the MFC-J4355DW and MFC-J4555DW. An LC506 cartridge will not work in your printer. Check the number on the cartridge you are removing before you order.

What Actually Ships in the Box

This is where Brother's INKvestment Tank models genuinely differ from most inkjets. Rather than reduced-capacity setup cartridges, the Brother MFC-J6555DW ships with around a year of ink at Brother's assumed usage. It is a real cost advantage and worth factoring in when comparing purchase prices against an HP or Canon that includes a starter set good for a couple of hundred pages.

How to Replace the Ink in the Brother MFC-J6555DW

1. Open the ink cartridge cover on the front of the printer.
2. Press the lock release lever for the color you are replacing and pull the cartridge straight out.
3. Unwrap the new cartridge and remove the orange protective packing. Do not touch the contacts.
4. Slide the cartridge into the matching color slot in the direction of the arrow on the label, and push until it locks.
5. Close the cover. The printer will prepare the ink system briefly.
6. Print a test page. If quality looks off, run Print Head Cleaning from the Ink or Maintenance menu.

Replace one cartridge at a time so you do not lose track of which slot is which — the colors are labelled but the cartridges look similar.

Troubleshooting Tips

Printer will not recognize a cartridge: Remove it and reseat it firmly — these cartridges need a definite click. If it still fails, wipe the contacts with a dry cloth.

"Cannot Detect" after fitting compatibles: Power the printer fully off, leave it a minute, then power on with the cartridges installed. This clears most detection faults on the LC406 series.

Colors missing or streaky: Run Print Head Cleaning, up to three cycles. The printhead is part of the printer rather than the cartridge here, so a genuine clog is fixable — do not simply replace cartridges.

Ink counter seems wrong after a refill or reset: Brother tracks usage on the chip. A compatible cartridge reports its own level, so the estimate may jump. Judge by output.

Printer says a cartridge is low almost immediately: Check you did not fit a standard LC406 where you meant to fit an LC406XL — they look near-identical in the slot.

How to Check Your Ink Levels on the Brother MFC-J6555DW

On the Brother MFC-J6555DW, press Ink or Settings on the touchscreen and choose Ink Volume for a per-colour bar chart. The same figures appear in Brother iPrint&Scan on a computer and in the Brother Mobile Connect app, and the printer's built-in web interface (type its IP address into a browser) shows them too.

Treat every one of these readings as an estimate rather than a measurement. Printers calculate remaining ink by counting drops fired since the cartridge was installed, not by looking inside it, and manufacturers deliberately set the low-ink threshold early. It is routine to get a few hundred more pages after the first warning — keep printing until quality actually drops.

Storing Spare Cartridges

If you buy ink a few at a time, a little care keeps the spares usable:

• Leave them sealed until the moment you fit them. The foil pouch is what stops the nozzles and vents drying out.
• Store upright, the way they sit in the printer. On their side or upside down, ink can migrate and pool against the vent.
• Keep them at room temperature and out of direct sun. A cupboard is ideal; a garage or a car in summer is not.
• Do not refrigerate or freeze them, whatever you have read. Condensation on the contacts causes more failures than age does.
• Use them within about a year. Most cartridges carry a date on the box; buying a two-year supply to save a few dollars is usually a false economy.

Which Other Printers Use the Same Ink?

The Brother LC406 / LC406XL cartridge is used across a range of machines, which keeps compatible prices low and availability high. If you run more than one of these, a single cartridge type covers them all:

• Brother MFC-J4335DW
• Brother MFC-J4345DW XL
• Brother MFC-J4535DW
• Brother MFC-J5855DW
• Brother MFC-J5955DW
• Brother MFC-J6555DW
• Brother MFC-J6955DW
• Brother MFC-J6957DW

Always check the number printed on the cartridge you are replacing before ordering — manufacturers reuse similar-looking numbers across families. You can also look your machine up in our Find Ink by Printer directory.

Compatible vs. OEM: What You're Actually Buying

An OEM cartridge is made by Brother. A compatible is newly manufactured by a third party to the same physical and electrical spec. A remanufactured cartridge is an original shell that has been collected, cleaned, fitted with new wear parts and refilled. All three will print in a Brother MFC-J6555DW; what differs is price, consistency, and who stands behind it.

Quality across the compatible market is genuinely uneven, which is why the seller matters more than the label. A no-name cartridge from a marketplace listing with no return path is a gamble. Castle Ink tests Brother LC406XL cartridges individually before they ship and backs every one with a replacement-or-refund guarantee.

And the warranty myth is just that: in the United States, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act prevents a manufacturer from conditioning warranty coverage on the use of its own consumables. Brother would have to show the third-party cartridge caused the specific failure being claimed.

How to Make Ink Last Longer on the Brother MFC-J6555DW

Manufacturer yields are quoted at 5% page coverage — a fairly sparse business letter. Real documents run denser, which is why cartridges so often feel like they run out early. A few habits genuinely stretch them:

• Print in draft/economy mode for anything internal. Reserve best quality for documents that leave the building.
• Leave the printer plugged in and powered. Inkjets run a small maintenance cycle on wake; unplugging between uses forces a full purge that costs more ink than the cycle it skipped.
• Print something at least every couple of weeks. Idle printheads dry out, and a clogged head burns far more ink in cleaning cycles than routine printing would have used.
• Skip the alignment page unless quality actually looks off. Those are high-coverage prints.
• Use a lighter font for drafts. Dropping from a 12pt heavy serif to an 11pt lighter face measurably cuts coverage over a long document.

Ignore advice about freezing cartridges or refilling them with syringe kits. Neither works reliably, and both are good ways to ruin a printhead.

Official Brother MFC-J6555DW Resources

• Brother MFC-J6555DW support page
• Brother support and driver downloads
• How to recycle used cartridges

Bottom Line

The Brother MFC-J6555DW is one of the cheaper inkjets to run once the in-box ink is gone, provided you buy LC406XL rather than standard cartridges and ignore the phantom XXL listings. Compatible LC406XL cartridges from Castle Ink bring the cost per page down further still.

Frequently Asked Questions

What ink does the Brother MFC-J6555DW use? Brother LC406 or LC406XL cartridges in black, cyan, magenta and yellow — four individual cartridges.

Is there an LC406XXL? No. Brother's top tier for this family is LC406XL at roughly 6,000 black pages. An XXL exists only in the newer LC506 family, which fits different printers — do not buy it for this machine.

Is the XL worth it? Yes. The XL doubles black from about 3,000 to 6,000 pages and more than triples each color from about 1,500 to 5,000, at nowhere near the equivalent price increase.

Why did this printer come with so much ink? Brother ships these INKvestment Tank models with roughly a year's supply in the box at typical usage. It is a real advantage over most inkjets, which include reduced setup cartridges.

Do the colors drain even when I print black text? Some, yes. The printer uses small amounts of color for maintenance cycles, and many documents contain color you have not noticed. Greyscale as a driver default helps.

Does compatible ink void the Brother MFC-J6555DW warranty? No. Under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act in the US, using a third-party cartridge does not by itself void a printer warranty.

Can I mix standard and XL cartridges? Yes. The printer does not care whether the four cartridges are the same capacity.

Written and reviewed by William Elward — Founder of Castle Ink, 20+ years in the printer and ink industry. Last updated August 2026.

Shop Compatible Ink at Castle Ink

Save 50–70% on replacement ink for the Brother MFC-J6555DW. Every cartridge is tested before it ships and backed by Castle Ink's compatibility guarantee — if it does not work in your printer, we replace it or refund you.

• Brother LC406XL cyan (compatible)
• Brother LC406XL magenta (compatible)
• Brother LC406XL yellow (compatible)
• Shop all Brother ink at Castle Ink

Buy the Brother MFC-J6555DW on Amazon: Brother MFC-J6555DW on Amazon

See also: Find Ink by Printer | Printer Ink Cost Calculator | Best Printers Buying Guide