A cooling device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes first and second conveying belts facing each other to hold and convey a recording medium therebetween, a first cooling body in contact with the first conveying belt to cool the recording medium, a second cooling body in contact with the second conveying belt to cool the recording medium, a heat dissipating body to dissipate heat of each cooling medium absorbed from the first and second cooling bodies, a cooling medium entering passage to flow each cooling medium from the heat dissipating body toward respective inlets of the first and second cooling bodies, and a cooling medium exiting passage to merge each cooling medium discharged from respective outlets of the first and second cooling bodies and flow the merged cooling medium to the heat dissipating body.