Paper Size Comparison: Letter, Legal, Tabloid & A4

U.S. Letter is 8.5 × 11 inches, Legal is 8.5 × 14 inches, and Tabloid is 11 × 17 inches. A4 is a different format, measuring 210 × 297 mm.

The Brother paper-size chart lists common formats. The inch-based formats above are converted to millimeters using 25.4 mm per inch; the A-series inch values are rounded from their metric dimensions.

Check the format name and dimensions together. “Standard paper” does not identify one universal size.

11 × 17-inch paper is commonly called Tabloid or Ledger. It measures 27.94 × 43.18 cm, or 279.4 × 431.8 mm.

IBM's page-size reference lists Tabloid as 11 × 17 inches and Ledger as 17 × 11 inches. Those dimensions describe the same sheet turned between portrait and landscape.

          Tabloid portrait           Ledger landscape
              11 in                        17 in
           +---------+               +----------------+
           |         |               |                |
     17 in |         |         11 in |                |
           |         |               +----------------+
           +---------+

Labeled schematic, not a scale drawing.

Changing orientation does not change the sheet's area. A page setup or printer may distinguish the names, so check the actual width, height and orientation selected.

Letter and Legal share an 8.5-inch short edge. Legal is three inches longer:

Legal has about 27.3% more area than Letter. Tabloid has exactly twice Letter's area and about 57.1% more area than Legal.

Two Letter rectangles can be placed together along their eleven-inch edges to form an 11 × 17-inch rectangle. Folding an 11 × 17-inch sheet halfway along the seventeen-inch direction produces two 8.5 × 11-inch panels.

These are sheet dimensions and geometric comparisons. They do not establish the printable area available on a particular printer.

What ratio is 8.5-by-11-inch paper?

U.S. Letter has a width-to-height ratio of 17:22 in portrait orientation. Multiply both dimensions by two to simplify 8.5:11 to 17:22.

The long edge is approximately 1.2941 times the short edge: 11 ÷ 8.5 ≈ 1.2941. In landscape orientation, the width-to-height ratio reverses to 22:17.

This is a proportion, not a physical sheet measurement. A rectangle can share the same ratio at a different size. When resizing a Letter document proportionally, keep that relationship instead of independently stretching its width and height.

A4 is 210 × 297 mm. It is narrower and taller than U.S. Letter:

A4 and Letter are close in size, but they are not interchangeable without checking the document and print settings.

For a page designed around one format, printing on another may require scaling, leave different margins or crop content, depending on the chosen settings. Preview the result rather than assuming the sheet labels mean the same dimensions.

A3 is also different from Tabloid: 297 × 420 mm versus 279.4 × 431.8 mm. In portrait orientation, A3 is wider and shorter.

Among the formats here, Legal and Tabloid both have more area than Letter. A4 has slightly more area than Letter too, but its narrower width may matter for a particular layout.

For a format larger than 11 × 17 inches in both dimensions, Portland Community College's print-center sizing guide lists Arch B at 12 × 18 inches.

A 12 × 18-inch sheet has 216 square inches of area, about 15.5% more than an 11 × 17-inch sheet. That does not mean your printer can accept it.

Check the printer's supported media sizes and the print provider's specifications. A paper-size chart lists dimensions, not compatibility with every machine.

Measure the sheet's two edges and record the units. For inch dimensions, multiply by 25.4 to convert to millimeters.

For example, 11 × 25.4 = 279.4 mm and 17 × 25.4 = 431.8 mm. Manufacturer charts may round those values to whole millimeters.

Keep the sheet size separate from margins, print bleed and the final trimmed product. Those can use different boundaries. An image's pixel dimensions also do not establish a physical paper size without a resolution and output scale.

If a listing uses only “L” or “long,” look for its stated dimensions; do not infer one of the formats in this chart from an ambiguous label.

Is Legal the same as A4?

No. Legal is 215.9 × 355.6 mm; A4 is 210 × 297 mm.

Is Tabloid twice Letter?

Yes, by area. An 11 × 17-inch sheet has twice the area of an 8.5 × 11-inch sheet.

Is Ledger a different sheet size from Tabloid?

The dimensions shown here are the same sheet with reversed orientation: 17 × 11 versus 11 × 17 inches.

Is A4 the same as 8.5 by 11 inches?

No. That inch measurement is U.S. Letter.

Can every printer use these formats?

No. Check the specific printer's supported media and selected page settings.