What Toner Does the Brother MFC-L3770CDW Use?

Quick answer: The Brother MFC-L3770CDW uses Brother TN223 (standard) or Brother TN227 (high-yield) toner cartridges in black, cyan, magenta and yellow. It also uses a separate DR223CL drum set, a BU223CL belt unit and a WT223CL waste toner box — four different consumable families in total. For most owners the TN227 high-yield 4-pack is the right buy.

The toner, pictured

• TN227 4-packBlack + Cyan/Magenta/Yellow
• TN227 BlackTN227BK · ~3,000 pages
• TN227 CyanTN227C · ~2,300 pages
• DR223CL Drum~18,000 pages

Our own compatible toner, photographed in-house.

Brother MFC-L3770CDW Toner Cartridges at a Glance

The Brother MFC-L3770CDW is a colour laser, so it takes four cartridges: one black plus cyan, magenta and yellow. All four are consumed independently, and on a colour laser the three colour cartridges drain even when you think you are printing black-only documents — company logos, coloured hyperlinks and shaded table headers all pull from them. The MFC-L3770CDW is the flagship of this family, with a single-pass duplex document feeder, a touchscreen and a 30-sheet multipurpose tray — and the same TN223/TN227 cartridges as the cheapest model in the line.

Standard vs. High-Yield: Which One Should You Buy?

Almost everyone with a Brother MFC-L3770CDW should be buying the high-yield TN227 black rather than the standard TN223 black. The high-yield cartridge is physically the same size and installs identically — it is simply filled with more toner. At roughly 3000 pages versus 1400, it prints about 2.1x as much for a price that is nowhere near 2.1x higher, which is why the cost per page always lands in its favor.

The only reason to choose the standard cartridge is if you print so little that a cartridge would sit in the machine for years. Toner is a dry powder and does not dry out the way inkjet ink does, so even very light users are usually better off with the high-yield version. On the colour cartridges the gap is narrower — roughly 1,300 pages for a TN223 against 2,300 for a TN227 — but the high-yield still wins on cost per page.

To run the math on your own printer, our Printer Ink Cost Calculator will show you the cost per page for any cartridge price and yield combination.

The Four Consumables You Actually Need to Budget For

This is where colour lasers surprise people. Toner is only the first of four parts, and the other three are easy to forget until the printer stops:

• Toner cartridges (TN223 / TN227) — four of them, replaced most often.
• Drum unit (DR223CL) — a set of four drums, roughly 18,000 pages each. Sold separately from toner.
• Belt unit (BU223CL) — around 50,000 pages. Transfers the image from the drums to the paper.
• Waste toner box (WT223CL) — around 50,000 pages. Collects excess toner; must be replaced, not emptied.

The good news is that only the toner comes due regularly. If you print a few hundred pages a month, the drum will last years and the belt and waste box may well outlast the printer. But it is worth knowing they exist before the machine asks for one.

Castle Ink stocks a compatible DR223CL drum unit alongside the toner.

What Actually Ships in the Box

New Brother MFC-L3770CDW units include starter cartridges rated at roughly 1,000 pages each — below even a standard TN223. Expect the first low-toner warning sooner than the spec sheet might suggest, and treat the in-box supplies as a trial rather than a full set.

How to Replace the Toner in the Brother MFC-L3770CDW

1. Open the front cover and pull the drum-and-toner drawer straight out until it stops. All four cartridges sit in this one tray.
2. Identify the cartridge that needs replacing by its colour label and press down the green lock lever beside it.
3. Lift the used toner cartridge up and out of the drum unit. The drum stays in the drawer.
4. Unbox the new cartridge, rock it gently from side to side several times, and remove the orange protective cover.
5. Lower the new cartridge into the matching colour slot until the green lever clicks back into place.
6. Slide each of the four green cleaning tabs on the drum unit firmly left and right several times, returning each to its home position.
7. Push the drawer fully back into the printer and close the front cover.
8. Wait for the calibration cycle to finish, then print a colour test page.

If colours look off after a change, run a manual color calibration from the printer's touchscreen menu. It is worth doing any time you swap more than one cartridge at once.

Troubleshooting Tips

Colour cast or wrong colours after a toner change: Run a calibration, then a registration, from the printer's menu. Colour lasers need to re-learn where each drum sits relative to the others after a cartridge swap.

Repeating marks in one colour only: That points to a single drum in the DR223CL set rather than the toner. Note which colour and at what interval the mark repeats.

"Toner Low" for a colour you never print: Normal. The printer uses small amounts of all four colours for calibration and for composite blacks. It is not a fault.

New compatible cartridge not recognised: TN223 and TN227 cartridges are chipped. Confirm you bought the "with chip" North American version, then power-cycle the printer with the cover opened and closed once.

Grey background or smearing across the whole page: Usually the drum or a waste toner box nearing capacity rather than the toner cartridge.

Which Other Printers Use the Same Cartridge?

The Brother TN223 / TN227 cartridge set is used across a wide range of machines, which is good news for buyers — high production volume keeps compatible cartridge prices low and availability high. If you run more than one of these printers, a single cartridge type covers all of them:

• Brother HL-L3210CW
• Brother HL-L3230CDW
• Brother HL-L3270CDW
• Brother HL-L3290CDW
• Brother MFC-L3710CW
• Brother MFC-L3750CDW
• Brother MFC-L3770CDW

Always confirm the cartridge number printed on the supply you are replacing before ordering, since manufacturers occasionally use similar-looking numbers across families. You can also look your machine up on our Find Ink by Printer directory, which lists the correct cartridge for several hundred printers.

What MFC-L3770CDW owners ask

These are the questions that come up most for this printer on retailer Q&A pages, Brother's support pages and owner reviews, answered in our words.

Can it scan both sides of a page in one pass?

Yes. The 50-sheet document feeder does single-pass two-sided scanning, at up to 58 images per minute in black and 34 in color.

Is the MFC-L3770CDW still sold, and what replaced it?

Brother lists it as discontinued. The current comparable model is the MFC-L3780CDW, which uses a different drum (DR229CL), so a spare DR223CL won't carry over.

How long do the toners that come in the box last?

Brother rates the starter cartridges at about 1,000 pages each. That is less than a standard TN223, so the first low-toner warning comes early.

How often do the belt and waste toner box need replacing?

Rarely. Brother rates both the BU223CL belt and the WT223CL waste toner box at about 50,000 pages, against about 18,000 for the DR223CL drum.

MFC-L3770CDW quirks worth knowing

• Besides the 250-sheet tray it has a 30-sheet multipurpose tray (280 sheets in all), where the smaller models in this family make do with a 1-sheet slot.
• It supports NFC "touch to connect" printing and scanning from Android phones (4.4 and later) and has a front USB port for printing from a memory stick.
• It faxes two-sided originals and holds up to 500 pages in fax memory, which matters if the printer runs out of toner while faxes are coming in.

Frequently Asked Questions

What toner does the Brother MFC-L3770CDW use? Brother TN223 (standard) or TN227 (high-yield) cartridges in black, cyan, magenta and yellow, plus a separate DR223CL drum set, BU223CL belt unit and WT223CL waste toner box.

Can I mix TN223 and TN227 cartridges? Yes. The printer does not care whether the four cartridges are the same capacity, so you can run a high-yield black alongside standard colours if that suits how you print.

Do I need to replace the drum when I replace the toner? No. The DR223CL drums last roughly 18,000 pages each — several toner cartridges' worth. Replace them only when the printer asks or when a print defect survives a new cartridge.

Why are my colour cartridges running down when I only print black text? Colour lasers draw small amounts of cyan, magenta and yellow during calibration cycles, and many documents contain colour you do not notice — logos, hyperlinks, table shading. Setting your driver to greyscale for routine documents helps.

Does compatible toner void the Brother MFC-L3770CDW warranty? No. In the US, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act prevents a manufacturer from voiding a warranty purely because a third-party consumable was used.

What is the waste toner box and can I empty it? It collects surplus toner from the printing process. It is not user-serviceable and must be replaced rather than emptied — but at around 50,000 pages, most owners will replace it rarely if ever.

What other Brother printers use TN223 and TN227? The same cartridges fit the HL-L3210CW, HL-L3230CDW, HL-L3270CDW, HL-L3290CDW, MFC-L3710CW, MFC-L3750CDW and MFC-L3770CDW.

Other printers that use TN223 and TN227 toner

Brother HL-L3210CW · Brother HL-L3290CDW · Brother HL-L3230CDW · Brother HL-L3270CDW · Brother MFC-L3750CDW

More Brother ink guides: Brother DCP-L2640DW · Brother MFC-L2820DW · Brother HL-L2460DW · find any printer

Replacing it? Our highest-rated alternatives

• Brother HL-L2460DW — CastleScore 90
• Brother MFC-L2820DW — CastleScore 90
• Brother HL-L5210DW — CastleScore 89

Sources

Ratings and prices were checked on October 8, 2026 and will change over time.

• Brother MFC-L3770CDW product page (specs, starter toner)
• Brother TN227BK toner page (yields, compatible models)
• Brother DR223CL drum unit page
• Brother BU223CL belt unit page
• Brother MFC-L3780CDW product page
• Brother MFC-L3770CDW support FAQs (error messages)