The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Times New Roman vs Arial
Two Monotype typefaces that became defaults almost everywhere. Times New Roman is a compact transitional serif commissioned by The Times newspaper in 1931, while Arial is a neo-grotesque sans-serif from 1982 drawn to match Helvetica's metrics, and both have shipped with every version of Windows since 3.1.
Times New Roman is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Tinos, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Times New Roman → Arial is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Arimo, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Arial →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- Times New Roman is a serif based on Plantin with heightened stroke contrast, a high x-height, short descenders, and a condensed width chosen to fit more words into a newspaper column.
- Arial is a sans-serif with Helvetica's proportions and stroke widths but Monotype Grotesque detailing, most visibly its diagonally cut terminals, softer curves, and more open counters.
- Times New Roman grew into a general book and publishing face, and APA style still suggests it for papers, whereas Robin Nicholas described Arial as a deliberately generic, almost bland sans for both text and display.
- Both are proprietary Monotype fonts licensed with Windows and macOS rather than free, so embedding them on the web or in apps means paying per-style desktop and annual web licenses from Monotype.
Times New Roman
Reach for Times New Roman for long-form print and academic documents, where its space-saving serif forms and institutional familiarity are the point.
Arial
Reach for Arial when you need a neutral, Helvetica-shaped sans for forms, reports, and general office documents that must render identically on every Windows machine.