Paper size is a small detail that catches out a lot of people applying across borders. A resume designed on A4 and printed in New York, or designed on Letter and printed in London, can come out slightly shrunk, with clipped margins or a stray last line on a second page.
It is easy to get right once you know the two sizes and who uses which.
The two sizes, exactly
| A4 | US Letter | |
|---|---|---|
| Millimetres | 210 × 297 mm | 215.9 × 279.4 mm |
| Inches | 8.27 × 11.69 in | 8.5 × 11 in |
| Compared with the other | About 6 mm narrower and 18 mm taller | About 6 mm wider and 18 mm shorter |
| Standard | ISO 216 | North American |
The difference that matters is height. Letter is noticeably shorter, so the same content takes up more of the page.
Which countries use which
- US Letter: the United States and Canada. A few other countries, including Mexico and the Philippines, commonly use Letter as well.
- A4: almost everywhere else, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, the European Union, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the Middle East and most of Asia, Africa and South America.
If you are unsure, the simplest rule is to use the paper size of the country where the job is based, not the country you are in.
Does paper size matter for an ATS?
No. An applicant tracking system extracts the text from your file and discards the page entirely. Paper size has no effect on parsing or on how you rank in a search.
It matters in two situations:
- When your resume is printed. A printer loaded with Letter will usually scale an A4 page down to fit, making the text slightly smaller, or crop the bottom margin. An A4 printer given a Letter page leaves an odd gap at the bottom.
- When your resume is viewed page by page. A resume that fits one A4 page may spill a line or two onto a second page on Letter, which looks careless to a reader.
What to do for international applications
- Applying to one country: use that country's size.
- Applying to North America from elsewhere: switch to Letter and check that nothing has moved onto a second page.
- Applying to several countries at once: keep a version in each size, or use generous margins of at least 15 mm (about 0.6 inches) so either prints cleanly.
- Sending to a recruiter or agency: ask which they prefer. Many will reformat anyway.
Check the page count after switching
Because Letter is about 18 mm shorter, a resume that exactly fills an A4 page will often run over on Letter. After switching size, always check:
- That the resume still fits the number of pages you intended.
- That no single line or heading has been orphaned at the bottom of a page.
- That the margins still look even.
If it spills over, tighten section spacing or line height slightly, or cut a weaker bullet, rather than shrinking the font below about 10 points. Our guide to how long a resume should be covers what to cut first.
The builder on this site switches between A4 and Letter in the Design panel and re-typesets the whole document, so you can see the page count change before you download. Its own sample resume is a good illustration of the height difference: it fits one A4 page in all six templates, but three of the templates run onto a second page on Letter at the default spacing.
Frequently asked questions
Is a resume A4 or Letter size?
It depends on where you are applying. Resumes for jobs in the United States and Canada use US Letter; resumes for jobs in most other countries use A4.
What size paper is a UK CV?
A4. The UK, Ireland and the rest of Europe use A4 for CVs and almost all other documents.
What happens if I send an A4 resume to a US employer?
On screen, nothing noticeable. If it is printed on Letter paper, the page is usually scaled down slightly or has its bottom margin clipped. It will not be rejected for it, but a correctly sized version looks more careful.
Does paper size affect applicant tracking systems?
No. Tracking systems read the text in your file and ignore the page size completely.
Which is bigger, A4 or Letter?
A4, slightly, by total area. It is about 18 mm taller but about 6 mm narrower than Letter, so which one looks bigger depends on whether you compare height or width.