The 8 1/2 x 14 paper size is called Legal size in the United States, measuring exactly 8.5 by 14 inches and used mostly for contracts, court filings, and official paperwork.
Reach for a sheet of 8 1/2 x 14 paper and you’re holding Legal size — the long, narrow page that shows up in law offices, county recorders, and real estate closings across the country. It looks like Letter paper that got stretched, and that’s basically what it is. Both sizes are 8.5 inches wide; only the length changes. Legal adds three extra inches of height, which is enough to matter — and enough to jam a printer that isn’t ready for it.
That extra length exists for a reason: legal documents, contracts, and official paperwork have historically needed more room for signatures, notary blocks, and dense clauses than a standard Letter page provides.
Legal vs. Letter vs. Other U.S. Paper Sizes
Legal paper is 8.5 x 14 inches, while the far more common Letter size is 8.5 x 11 inches — the same width but three inches shorter. That length difference is the whole ballgame. A Legal page holds roughly 27% more printable area than a Letter page, which is why printing a Legal document on Letter paper almost always crops the bottom or shrinks everything to fit.
Legal doesn’t sit alone in the U.S. paper system. Office-paper charts group it with a handful of other North American sizes that share the same 8.5-inch width family or serve specific roles:
| Paper Size | Dimensions (Inches) | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|
| Letter | 8.5 x 11 | Everyday printing, home and office |
| Legal | 8.5 x 14 | Contracts, court filings, official records |
| Government Legal | 8.5 x 13 | Select government forms; distinct from Legal |
| Executive | 7.5 x 10 | Stationery, executive correspondence |
| Tabloid / Ledger | 11 x 17 | Spreadsheets, newsletters, posters |
| ANSI A | 8.5 x 11 | U.S. engineering equivalent of Letter |
| ANSI B | 11 x 17 | U.S. engineering equivalent of Tabloid |
Legal’s aspect ratio works out to about 1.65 — noticeably taller than Letter’s 1.29. In metric terms, Legal is 216 x 356 mm, with one source giving the exact conversion as 215.9 x 355.6 mm.
How To Print On Legal Paper Without Cropping
New to this size? Start with the sheets themselves — our roundup of 8 1/2 x 14 paper tested for real printers covers what actually feeds cleanly. The document isn’t the problem when a Legal print job comes out short — the printer settings are. If the output is cropped, scaled down, or stopped halfway, the tray and the software are set to Letter, which is the most common cause of Legal printing errors.
The fix follows a short order:
- Check that the paper tray physically supports Legal. Many compact home printers only accept Letter and Tabloid; a tray that maxes out at 8.5 x 11 will either refuse the sheet or feed it crooked.
- Set the tray guide to Legal length. Slide the rear guide back until it meets the 8.5 x 14 mark.
- In the print dialog, set the paper size to Legal before hitting print — not after. Selecting it in the document’s page setup alone won’t always carry over.
- Match the page size in your document software too, so the layout isn’t scaled to Letter.
When it works, the printed page runs the full 14 inches with no white gap at the bottom and no shrunken margins. If the bottom third is blank or the text looks miniature, the size selection didn’t take — cancel and reset it.
The Main Sizing Mistake To Avoid
Confusing Legal with Letter or Government Legal is the number-one sizing error in U.S. paper charts. Letter is 8.5 x 11, Government Legal is 8.5 x 13, and Legal is 8.5 x 14. Those one- to three-inch gaps are small on a spec sheet and huge on a printed contract — a filing that needs the full length will look clipped on Letter and slightly short on Government Legal.
The trap extends to envelopes and templates. Envelopes sold as “legal size” are built for the folded 8.5 x 14 sheet, and document templates often default to Letter unless you change them. When you order paper, order by both the name and the numbers: Legal, 8.5 x 14. That’s the only combination that guarantees what lands in the tray matches what the document expects.
FAQs
Is legal paper the same as 8.5 x 13?
No. Legal paper measures 8.5 x 14 inches. The 8.5 x 13 size is sometimes labeled Government Legal, and it is a separate standard used for certain official forms. The one-inch difference matters when a document is designed to fill the full page height, so order by the exact numbers rather than the name alone.
Can a regular printer print on this size?
Only if the tray supports it. Many home printers accept just Letter and Tabloid, while most office-grade and wide-format models handle Legal directly. Check your printer’s paper specifications before buying a ream; if it doesn’t list 8.5 x 14, the sheet won’t feed correctly no matter what the software says.
What is legal paper used for?
Legal size is standard for contracts, court filings, real estate documents, and official records that need extra room for signatures and notary blocks. The added length gives dense clauses and multiple signature lines space to sit on one page, which is why the format stuck in legal and government settings rather than everyday printing.
References & Sources
- Ohio Department of Transportation. “Paper Sizes” Government paper-size table listing Legal as 8.5 x 14 inches.
- Wikipedia. “Paper Size” Standard paper sizes, metric equivalents, and Legal’s aspect ratio.
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “Standard Paper Sizes” U.S. paper size chart for Letter, Legal, Executive, and Tabloid.