To properly form an image onto various types of paper, in an apparatus which forms an image on recording paper by allowing the recording paper to pass through a transfer nip formed, by bringing a transfer roller having a recess in a part of its circumferential surface, into contact with a belt-like image carrier.

The number of rotations of a secondary transfer roller 4 is adjusted based on the type of the recording paper when the recording paper is nipped by the transfer nip. Thus, the number of rotations of the secondary transfer roller 4 is controlled to suppress a speed difference, between the moving speed of the recording paper and that of an intermediate transfer belt. As a result, image abrasion can be prevented at the transfer nip, and speed fluctuations in the intermediate transfer belt 31 can be also prevented.