What size is legal paper?

8.5 by 14 inches, or 215.9 by 355.6 mm. The inches are the defining dimensions: Legal is a size stated in inches, so the millimetres in every table here are the conversion at 25.4 mm to the inch and not a separately published figure.

How is Legal different from Letter?

Legal is the same width and 76.2 mm taller than Letter. Nothing else changes: both are 8.5 inches across, and Legal is three inches longer. A Letter sheet fits inside a Legal one with no spare width and 76.2 mm spare down the page, which is why a Letter document printed on Legal leaves a band of white at the foot rather than reflowing.

How many pixels is a legal page?

2550 by 4200 at 300 dpi, 1275 by 2100 at 150 dpi and 612 by 1008 at 72 dpi, in portrait. A pixel count is only the sheet in inches multiplied by the dots per inch, so it is meaningless without the dpi figure beside it. 300 dpi is the usual figure for print, 150 for a draft and 72 for something that will only ever be looked at on a screen.

Is Legal used outside the United States?

It is standard in the United States, Canada, Mexico and parts of the Philippines and Chile. Most of the rest of the world uses the ISO A series, where the nearest sheet by area is not Letter but C4, which is 13.1 mm wider and 31.6 mm shorter than Legal. Legal has no ISO equivalent: it is a trade size rather than part of a halving series.

What is Legal in centimetres?

21.59 by 35.56 cm. Both figures are the inch dimensions converted, so they carry decimals that a size defined in millimetres, like A4, does not.

Legal Paper Size

US Legal is 8.5 by 14 inches, which is 215.9 by 355.6 mm. The tool above opens on Legal drawn to scale against Letter, so you can see the only difference between them: Legal is exactly the same width and three inches taller. The table below gives Legal in millimetres, centimetres, inches and pixels at 72, 150 and 300 dpi, in both portrait and landscape.

Legal · 215.9 × 355.6 mm
Letter · 215.9 × 279.4 mm

Legal · North American215.9 × 355.6 mm8.5 × 14 in · 2550 × 4200 px at 300 dpi

Size

Compare with

Units

Legal is the same width and 76.2 mm taller than Letter.

Millimetresconverted from inches
215.9 × 355.6 mm
Centimetres
21.59 × 35.56 cm
Inchesthe defining dimensions
8.5 × 14 in
Pixels at 72 dpiscreen
612 × 1008 px
Pixels at 150 dpidraft print
1275 × 2100 px
Pixels at 300 dpiphoto and press print
2550 × 4200 px
Aspect ratio17:28 in whole numbers
1 : 1.647
Area0.076774 m²
767.74 cm² · 119 in²
Against Letterwhich goes inside which
Letter fits inside Legal, with 0 mm spare across and 76.2 mm spare down.

US contracts and legal pads, three inches longer.
Also called US Legal.
C4 is 13.1 mm wider and 31.6 mm shorter.

The A series, A0 to A10

Every size below A0 is the one above it halved across the long side, rounded down to the whole millimetre. That is the rule ISO 216 states, and it is the rule these numbers come from.

Millimetres	Inches	Pixels at 300 dpi	Used for
841 × 1189	33.11 × 46.81	9933 × 14043	The base sheet the whole A series is halved from.
594 × 841	23.39 × 33.11	7016 × 9933	Large posters and flip charts.
420 × 594	16.54 × 23.39	4961 × 7016	Medium posters and technical drawings.
297 × 420	11.69 × 16.54	3508 × 4961	Charts, spreads and oversized printouts.
210 × 297	8.27 × 11.69	2480 × 3508	The standard document sheet almost everywhere.
148 × 210	5.83 × 8.27	1748 × 2480	Notebooks, flyers and folded A4 leaflets.
105 × 148	4.13 × 5.83	1240 × 1748	Postcards, index cards and small flyers.
74 × 105	2.91 × 4.13	874 × 1240	Pocket notes and small tickets.
52 × 74	2.05 × 2.91	614 × 874	Small labels and card-sized cuts.
37 × 52	1.46 × 2.05	437 × 614	Tiny labels and tags.
26 × 37	1.02 × 1.46	307 × 437	The smallest A cut, used for stamps and labels.

North American sizes

Defined in inches, so the millimetres are the conversion and the pixel counts are exact whole numbers at every DPI.

Millimetres	Inches	Pixels at 300 dpi	Used for
215.9 × 279.4	8.5 × 11	2550 × 3300	The default sheet in the US, Canada and Mexico.
215.9 × 355.6	8.5 × 14	2550 × 4200	US contracts and legal pads, three inches longer.
279.4 × 431.8	11 × 17	3300 × 5100	US newspapers, spreads and two-up Letter.
184.15 × 266.7	7.25 × 10.5	2175 × 3150	US letterheads and memos, just under Letter.
139.7 × 215.9	5.5 × 8.5	1650 × 2550	US notepads, planners and half-sheet handouts.
127 × 203.2	5 × 8	1500 × 2400	Small US legal pads.
203.2 × 266.7	8 × 10.5	2400 × 3150	US school and government notepads.
431.8 × 558.8	17 × 22	5100 × 6600	Engineering drawings, four Letter sheets.
558.8 × 863.6	22 × 34	6600 × 10200	Engineering drawings, eight Letter sheets.
863.6 × 1117.6	34 × 44	10200 × 13200	Engineering drawings, sixteen Letter sheets.

A4 and Letter are not interchangeable. A4 is 5.9 mm narrower and 17.6 mm taller than Letter, so neither fits inside the other and a document laid out for one reflows on the other: usually a lost line at the foot of the page, or a blank page at the end. Set the page size in the document rather than scaling at the printer, and the reflow happens once, where you can see it. Nothing here is a printer margin. Every printer keeps a few millimetres of its own around the edge, and that unprintable area is not part of the paper size.

US Legal in every unit

Computed from the defining dimensions, 8.5 by 14 inches. Millimetres and centimetres are the conversion at 25.4 mm to the inch; each pixel figure is the sheet in inches multiplied by that dpi and rounded to the whole pixel. Landscape is the same sheet turned, so the two numbers swap. Printer margins are not part of a paper size and are not included.

Measurement	Portrait	Landscape
Millimetres	215.9 × 355.6 mm	355.6 × 215.9 mm
Centimetres	21.59 × 35.56 cm	35.56 × 21.59 cm
Inches	8.5 × 14 in	14 × 8.5 in
Pixels at 72 dpi	612 × 1008 px	1008 × 612 px
Pixels at 150 dpi	1275 × 2100 px	2100 × 1275 px
Pixels at 300 dpi	2550 × 4200 px	4200 × 2550 px

Common questions

What size is legal paper?: 8.5 by 14 inches, or 215.9 by 355.6 mm. The inches are the defining dimensions: Legal is a size stated in inches, so the millimetres in every table here are the conversion at 25.4 mm to the inch and not a separately published figure.
How is Legal different from Letter?: Legal is the same width and 76.2 mm taller than Letter. Nothing else changes: both are 8.5 inches across, and Legal is three inches longer. A Letter sheet fits inside a Legal one with no spare width and 76.2 mm spare down the page, which is why a Letter document printed on Legal leaves a band of white at the foot rather than reflowing.
How many pixels is a legal page?: 2550 by 4200 at 300 dpi, 1275 by 2100 at 150 dpi and 612 by 1008 at 72 dpi, in portrait. A pixel count is only the sheet in inches multiplied by the dots per inch, so it is meaningless without the dpi figure beside it. 300 dpi is the usual figure for print, 150 for a draft and 72 for something that will only ever be looked at on a screen.
Is Legal used outside the United States?: It is standard in the United States, Canada, Mexico and parts of the Philippines and Chile. Most of the rest of the world uses the ISO A series, where the nearest sheet by area is not Letter but C4, which is 13.1 mm wider and 31.6 mm shorter than Legal. Legal has no ISO equivalent: it is a trade size rather than part of a halving series.
What is Legal in centimetres?: 21.59 by 35.56 cm. Both figures are the inch dimensions converted, so they carry decimals that a size defined in millimetres, like A4, does not.

Dimensions follow ISO 216 and the ANSI/ASME standards exactly; pixel sizes are dimensions times the DPI named. Printers add their own margins, which are not part of a paper size.