Times New Roman vs Georgia: Print vs Screen Serif
The Times New Roman vs Georgia debate is really a contest between two serifs born for different media. Times New Roman dominates print and academic documents; Georgia became the web’s go-to body serif. Both are transitional serifs and both ship free with most operating systems, so the deciding factors are proportion, space efficiency, and where readers will actually see your text.
What is Times New Roman?
Times New Roman was designed by Stanley Morison with Victor Lardent in 1932 for The Times of London. It is a transitional serif engineered for newspaper columns: condensed letterforms, a relatively small x-height, crisp serifs, and tight, economical spacing that packs maximum words into limited space without sacrificing legibility on cheap newsprint. Because it shipped as a system font on Windows and macOS, it became the default body face for essays, reports, and academic papers, and its newspaper heritage still defines its sober, authoritative tone.
What is Georgia?
Georgia was created by Matthew Carter and released by Microsoft in 1993, designed expressly for reading on low-resolution screens. Carter gave it a large x-height, sturdy and lower-contrast strokes, wider proportions, and generous spacing, plus meticulous hinting so it stayed sharp at small pixel sizes. It also features old-style figures that dip below the baseline. As a system font bundled with major operating systems and Office, Georgia became the default serif for comfortable on-screen reading across the early web.
What’s the difference between Times New Roman and Georgia?
The core split is space efficiency versus screen legibility. Times New Roman is narrow and compact, while Georgia is wider, taller in the lowercase, and built to render cleanly on pixels.
| Property | Times New Roman | Georgia |
|---|---|---|
| Classification | Transitional serif (newspaper) | Transitional serif (screen-optimized) |
| Designer / year | Stanley Morison & Victor Lardent, 1932 | Matthew Carter, 1993 |
| X-height | Smaller, space-saving | Large, optimized for small sizes |
| Contrast | Moderate to high contrast | Lower, sturdier contrast |
| Best used for | Print documents, academic papers | On-screen body text, web, email |
| Availability / license | System font, free with OS | System font, free with OS and Office |
When should you use each?
Use Times New Roman when a printed page or formal document demands compact, conventional, space-efficient text: academic essays, legal filings, printed reports, and anywhere a style guide expects it. Use Georgia when text will be read on screens, including blog posts, online articles, newsletters, and email, where its larger x-height and screen hinting keep paragraphs comfortable. If you are weighing classic serifs for the page, our comparison of Baskerville vs Georgia covers the print-versus-screen tradeoff from another angle.
Which is more readable / better for body text?
On screens, Georgia is more readable. Its large x-height, lower contrast, and dedicated hinting make small text crisp, whereas Times New Roman’s narrower forms and finer strokes can look cramped and slightly thin on displays. In print, Times New Roman is perfectly readable and more space-efficient, which is exactly why publications and academics favor it. So the answer depends on medium: Georgia for the screen, Times New Roman for the printed page. Both feature in our roundup of the best serif fonts for different reasons.
Are Times New Roman and Georgia free?
Both are effectively free as system fonts. Times New Roman ships with Windows, macOS, and Microsoft Office, and Georgia ships with the same platforms, so you can use either on installed devices at no cost. The caveat is web embedding: both are commercially licensed by Monotype for distribution as webfonts, so embedding them in a self-hosted CSS bundle requires a license. In practice most sites declare them in font stacks and rely on the user’s installed copy. For the distinction between using and embedding a font, see our font licensing guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Georgia better than Times New Roman for websites?
For most websites, yes. Georgia was purpose-built for screen reading with a large x-height and careful hinting, so it stays legible at small sizes where Times New Roman can look cramped. Times New Roman remains the better choice for printed documents and contexts where space efficiency or formal convention matters more than screen clarity.
Why does Times New Roman look smaller than Georgia?
Times New Roman has a smaller x-height and narrower letterforms than Georgia, so at the same point size its lowercase letters fill less vertical and horizontal space. This makes it appear smaller and more compact, which is ideal for fitting text into print columns but less comfortable for reading on screens.
Can I use Georgia instead of Times New Roman in an academic paper?
Only if your style guide allows it. Many institutions specifically require Times New Roman at 12pt because it is compact and conventional. Georgia is a fine alternative when no font is mandated, but always check the assignment or journal requirements before substituting, since formatting rules are often strict.
Which font uses less space, Times New Roman or Georgia?
Times New Roman uses less space. Its condensed letterforms and tighter spacing were specifically engineered for narrow newspaper columns, so a document set in Times New Roman occupies fewer lines than the same text in the wider, more generously spaced Georgia.
Do both fonts come with old-style figures?
Georgia is well known for its old-style (text) figures, which vary in height and dip below the baseline for an elegant, integrated look in running text. Times New Roman typically uses lining figures of uniform height that sit on the baseline, giving it a more uniform, tabular appearance suited to formal documents.
