What is the classic typewriter font?

Courier, designed by Howard Kettler for IBM in 1955, is the classic, and Courier New is on every Windows and Office install. The free ones here are Courier Prime, Cutive Mono, Special Elite and Cutive.

Why are typewriter fonts monospaced?

A typewriter moves the paper one step for every key, whatever the letter, so an i takes as much room as an m. Monospaced fonts keep that rule, which lines text up in columns.

Typewriter font generator

Typed on paper: worn ribbons and even steps. Type your words and see them in the fonts you pick, up to six at a time: Special Elite, Courier Prime, Cutive Mono and Cutive. Download any of them as a PNG for Canva or a poster, or as an SVG that cuts on a Cricut, or open a font’s page to get the font itself.

4 free typewriter fonts · PNG at 2× or 3× · SVG to cut · free for commercial use

Your text – it follows you round the site

Size72 px

Colour

Background

PNG size

Each PNG is cut to the letters with a margin. Transparent keeps only the letters. Each SVG is the letters welded, to cut on a Cricut.

Colour, background, PNG size

Colour

Background

PNG size

Each PNG is cut to the letters with a margin. Transparent keeps only the letters. Each SVG is the letters welded, to cut on a Cricut.

Your picks, 3 of 6 picked

The fonts you pick set your text: up to six, from the list below.

Typewriter · Worn ribbon

Special Elite

Free for commercial use · Apache 2.0

Typewriter · Courier

Courier Prime

Free for commercial use · OFL

Typewriter · Light typewriter

Cutive Mono

Free for commercial use · OFL

Pick up to 3 more from the list below to see your text in it.

All 4 free typewriter fonts

Pick a font to set your text in it at the top, up to six.

Typewriter · Worn ribbon
Special Elite
Free for commercial use · Apache 2.0
Typewriter · Courier
Courier Prime
Free for commercial use · OFL
Typewriter · Light typewriter
Cutive Mono
Free for commercial use · OFL
Typewriter · Typewriter serif
Cutive
Free for commercial use · OFL

Typewriter lettering

What it is

Typewriter fonts copy mechanical typewriters: every letter on an equal step, slab serifs, and, in the worn ones, the uneven bite of an inked ribbon on paper.

When to use it

Screenplays, letters, poems, invitations with an old-paper look, labels and anything meant to look typed rather than printed.

The fonts here

Courier Prime is monospaced, and so is Cutive Mono, every letter one width as on a typewriter; Courier Prime was made for screenplays and has a bold and italics. Special Elite prints like a worn ribbon on rough paper, and Cutive keeps the typewriter’s serifs, but each letter takes the room it needs, and its lines run longest of the four.

In Canva

Special Elite’s ragged edges read best large, on a paper or card texture; at small sizes they look like a bad print.

In Cricut Design Space

Cutive Mono, the faintest of the four, has thin strokes that need large sizes to cut and weed; Courier Prime in bold is the sturdy choice for vinyl.

In Word and Docs

Screenplays are written in 12 point Courier, one page a minute; Courier Prime keeps that page count with a better bold and italic. Word already has Courier New, installed alongside Windows, Office and macOS alike.

The steps for any style, the PNG and the SVG into each app, what the licences allow and what happens to your words, are on the font generator.

Typewriter fonts, answered

What is the classic typewriter font?: Courier, designed by Howard Kettler for IBM in 1955, is the classic, and Courier New is on every Windows and Office install. The free ones here are Courier Prime, Cutive Mono, Special Elite and Cutive.
Why are typewriter fonts monospaced?: A typewriter moves the paper one step for every key, whatever the letter, so an i takes as much room as an m. Monospaced fonts keep that rule, which lines text up in columns.

More styles

The same words in 17 other styles, each with fonts of its own. See every style on one page.