An image forming apparatus includes a joint head in which a plurality of heads, each having a plurality of nozzles, are arranged in a nozzle arranging direction, and end portions of the heads adjacent to each other overlap, an overlap processing unit that distributes recording dot pattern data used for forming dots by using nozzles of an overlapping portion of the heads out of recording dot pattern data to the nozzles of the recording head adjacent to each other, a first tone correcting unit that performs tone correction, by a first correction characteristic, on recording dot pattern data using the nozzles other than the overlapping portion, and a second tone correcting unit that performs tone correction by a second correction characteristic on recording dot pattern data by using the nozzles of the overlapping portion.