In an image forming apparatus, a distance adjusting unit adjusts an inter-unit distance between a contact unit and an image carrier by moving the image carrier or the contact unit by applying an opposing force to the image carrier or the contact unit against a biasing force applied by a biasing unit based on thickness information of a recording sheet acquired by a thickness-information acquiring unit and data indicating a relationship between the thickness information and an inter-unit distance change amount stored in a data storage unit.