Paper Sizes Explained: Letter vs Legal vs A4 vs Tabloid (and When to Use Each)

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Last updated: August 20, 2026.

Quick answer

In North America, the four paper sizes you'll meet most often are Letter (8.5×11"), Legal (8.5×14"), A4 (8.27×11.69") and Tabloid / Ledger (11×17"). Letter is the default for almost everything you print at home and at work in the US and Canada. Use Legal for contracts and long forms, A4 if you're sending documents to anyone outside North America, and Tabloid for spreadsheets, posters or two-up booklets — only on printers that specifically support 11×17.

Why there are two paper standards in the world

Most of the world uses the ISO 216 "A series" (A4, A3, A5…) developed in Germany in the 1920s. The US, Canada, Mexico, and a few other countries use the older "ANSI" sizes (Letter, Legal, Tabloid). Both work fine — you just have to know which one your printer is loaded with, and which one your document was designed for, or your margins will be off and your text will get cut off.

The four sizes you actually need to know

Letter — 8.5×11 inches

Also called US Letter or just "8.5 by 11." The standard for:

• Resumes, cover letters, business letters
• School papers and homework
• Most everyday office printing in the US/Canada
• Printed forms, invoices, statements

If you're not sure what to load, load Letter.

Legal — 8.5×14 inches

Same width as Letter, three inches taller. Used for:

• Legal contracts (hence the name)
• Long affidavits and real estate documents
• Some HR and government forms
• Long spreadsheets in portrait mode

Most home inkjets can handle Legal but you'll need to extend the paper tray and tell the printer driver you're loading Legal so it doesn't expect 8.5×11.

A4 — 8.27×11.69 inches (210×297 mm)

The international standard. Slightly narrower and slightly taller than Letter. Used for:

• Anything you're sending to or printing for someone outside North America
• Academic papers for international journals
• Documents from companies headquartered in Europe, Asia, Australia, etc.

If you print a Letter document on A4 (or vice versa), you'll get either chopped edges or weird white space. Always match the paper size to the document.

Tabloid / Ledger — 11×17 inches

Same as two Letter sheets side by side. Used for:

• Wide spreadsheets and engineering drawings
• Small posters and signs
• Two-up booklets (two Letter pages per sheet, folded)
• Newspaper-style layouts

Most home inkjets do not support 11×17. You'll need a printer specifically advertised as "wide format" or "11x17" — typically the larger Epson, Canon, or HP OfficeJet wide-format models.

Other sizes you'll see less often

Half Letter (5.5×8.5)

Half a Letter sheet. Used for journals, flyers, and zines. Most printers handle it via a custom size setting.

Executive (7.25×10.5)

An older "fancy" letterhead size. Almost nobody uses it anymore.

A5 (5.83×8.27)

Half an A4 sheet. Common in Europe for notebooks, novels, and small forms.

A3 (11.69×16.54)

Twice the size of A4. International equivalent of Tabloid — same use cases (spreadsheets, posters), same need for a wide-format printer.

4x6 and 5x7 photo sizes

Standard photo print sizes. Most home photo printers have a dedicated tray or feed slot for these.

How to switch paper sizes correctly

Loading a different size is only half the job — you also have to tell the printer driver. Here's the order:

1. Adjust the paper tray guides to fit the new size, snug but not tight
2. Load the paper with the print side down (or up, depending on your model — check the label inside the tray)
3. Open the printer software on your computer
4. Set the paper size in the print dialog (File → Print → Paper Size on Mac; Print → Properties → Paper on Windows)
5. Match the document to the paper in your application's page setup

If you skip step 4, the printer will print as if it's still on the previous size and you'll waste a sheet.

Quick reference table: every paper size in inches, mm, cm and pixels

Every size you are likely to meet, in one place. Pixel dimensions are at 300 DPI — the resolution you want for anything that will actually be printed rather than viewed on a screen.

Scaling between paper sizes: the exact percentages

When you print a document built for one size onto another, "fit to page" quietly rescales it. These are the percentages your driver is applying — handy when you want to set them by hand, or work out why your text came out smaller than you expected.

Scaling down is safe. Scaling up softens text and exaggerates any compression already in your images, so if you know a document is destined for Tabloid, build it at Tabloid rather than blowing up a Letter file.

Paper weight: what 20 lb, 24 lb and gsm actually mean

Size is only half the spec. Weight decides whether a sheet feels cheap, whether ink bleeds through to the other side, and whether your printer will feed it at all.

Most home printers feed up to about 24 lb (90 gsm) from the main tray without complaint. Heavier stock usually needs the rear or manual feed slot, and forcing card stock through a standard tray is one of the more common causes of a jam.

Where to buy each size

• Letter (8.5×11): stocked everywhere. See our Amazon picks for Letter paper (Hammermill Premium 28lb).
• Legal (8.5×14): harder to find at retail; Amazon and office stores carry it. See our Amazon picks for Legal paper (Hammermill 8.5×14).
• A4 (210×297 mm): rare in US retail; easy on Amazon. See our Amazon picks for A4 paper.
• Tabloid (11×17): specialty item, but Amazon stocks it. See our Amazon picks for Tabloid 11×17 (Amazon Basics 11×17).

Printable area: why your margins get cut off

The sheet size and the printable area are not the same thing. Almost every printer grips the paper along one edge and cannot lay ink right up to the border, so you lose roughly 0.17 to 0.25 inches on the sides and top, and often up to half an inch at the bottom on laser printers. If a document has been designed edge to edge, that is where your content disappears.

Borderless printing exists, but it is limited: it is normally an inkjet feature, it usually only covers photo sizes such as 4×6 and 5×7 (sometimes Letter or A4 on photo-focused models), and it works by slightly over-printing the edges, so anything critical still needs a safety margin. If your document keeps losing its footer, set your margins to at least 0.5 inches all round rather than fighting the driver.

Which sizes your printer can actually handle

• Letter and A4 — every home and office printer made in the last twenty years.
• Legal — most, but not all. Compact all-in-ones sometimes stop at Letter, and the tray usually has to be extended before it will accept a 14-inch sheet.
• A5, Half Letter, Executive — widely supported, though small sheets are more likely to be fed from a rear tray than the main cassette.
• 4×6 and 5×7 photo — supported on most photo-capable inkjets, often via a dedicated photo tray.
• Tabloid / Ledger (11×17) and A3 — wide-format only. No standard desktop printer will do it, whatever you set in the driver, and choosing the size on a machine that does not support it is why the job sits in the queue and never prints.

The reliable way to check is the tray itself: pull out the paper cassette and look at the size markings moulded into the guides. That tells you what the hardware accepts, which is more trustworthy than a driver list that may have been installed for a whole product family.

Envelope sizes that match each paper size

Picking the envelope is the step people improvise, then discover their letter needs an extra fold. These are the standard pairings.

Envelopes are the single most jam-prone thing you can put through a printer. Feed them one at a time, use the manual slot if your model has one, and check the driver is set to the envelope size rather than to Letter with an envelope in the tray.

FAQ

Can I print a Letter document on A4 paper?

Yes, but use your print dialog's "Scale to fit" or "Shrink to fit page" option, or your margins will be wrong and the bottom may get cut off.

What size paper does my printer support?

Check the spec sheet for your model. Most home inkjets handle Letter, Legal, A4, A5, 4x6 and 5x7. Only wide-format printers do Tabloid or A3.

Why is Legal paper so awkward to use?

Because it's longer than the standard tray fits. You have to extend the tray and the output catch tray, and a lot of printers can't do duplex (double-sided) Legal at all.

Is "letter" the same everywhere?

No. In the US/Canada/Mexico, Letter = 8.5×11. In most of the rest of the world, the equivalent everyday size is A4 (8.27×11.69).

What size is legal paper?

Legal paper is 8.5 × 14 inches, or 216 × 356 mm. It is the same width as Letter and exactly three inches taller. In centimetres that is 21.6 × 35.6, and at 300 DPI it works out to 2550 × 4200 pixels.

Is tabloid the same as ledger?

It is the same sheet — 11 × 17 inches. The old convention was that "tabloid" described the sheet in portrait and "ledger" the same sheet in landscape, but printer manufacturers now use the two words interchangeably. You will also see it listed as ANSI B or simply B-size.

What is 11x17 paper called?

Tabloid, ledger, ANSI B, or B-size, depending on who wrote the menu. It is exactly two Letter sheets side by side, which is why it is the standard choice for two-up booklets and for spreadsheets that will not fit legibly on Letter.

Is A4 bigger than Letter?

In area, just barely. A4 is about 0.7 inches taller and 0.2 inches narrower than Letter, which works out to roughly 3% more surface. That difference is small enough to be invisible until you print an A4 document on Letter paper, at which point the bottom of the page gets clipped.

What size is A4 paper in inches?

8.27 × 11.69 inches, defined as 210 × 297 mm. The metric numbers are the real specification; the inch figures are rounded conversions, which is why you will occasionally see 8.3 × 11.7 quoted instead.

Can my printer print legal size paper?

Most can, but check before you buy a ream. Pull out the paper tray and look for a 14-inch extension and Legal markings on the guides. If the tray only extends to 11 inches, the printer is Letter and A4 only, and selecting Legal in the driver will either scale the job or stall it.

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Related Fix-It-Fast Guide

Using the wrong paper size setting can cause more than just paper jams — it is also a common cause of a printer only printing part of a page:

• Why Is My Printer Only Printing Half a Page? 4 Quick Fixes