LaTeX font size

Per default latex use a font size of 10pt (depending of the used documentclass article, report, book und letter ) . This could be changed to 11pt or 12pt as a option of documentclass. That does not mean that only these three sizes can be used, it is only the size of the normalsize font. Later changes in the document then refer to this settings. By following commands the size can be changed within a document.

Note: Other documentclasses have other default font sizes!

For example documentclass memoir has 12 font sizes:
9pt, 10pt, 11pt, 12pt, 14pt, 17pt, 20pt, 25pt, 30pt, 36pt, 48pt and 60pt

Or the beamer class for presentation has 8 font sizes:
8pt, 9pt, 10pt, 11pt, 12pt, 14pt, 17pt and 20pt.

1.1 change font size

The font size of single words, paragraphs or the whole text can be changed. By the following ten commands:

`\tiny`		`\large`
`\scriptsize`		`\Large`
`\footnotesize`		`\LARGE`
`\small`		`\huge`
`\normalsize`		`\Huge`

How to change the size of a word:

{\command word}

example

{\huge huge}

output: huge

How to change the size of an area:

\begin{\command}
This part should be smaller then the rest of the document. 
\end{\command}

example

\begin{small}
This part should be smaller then the rest of the document. 
\end{small}

output:
This part should be smaller then the rest of the document.

the commands could be used as a switcher:

\command

example

text before \huge after

output: text before after

The effect of these commands is as long as is until the next command or the document is finished. For example, to switch back to the normal font size, then you have to add a \normalsize.

The following table shows the changes in font size depending on the selected standard font size (article, report, book und letter):

	standard font size
command	10pt	11pt	12pt
`\tiny`	5pt	6pt	6pt
`\scriptsize`	7pt	8pt	8pt
`\footnotesize`	8pt	9pt	10pt
`\small`	9pt	10pt	11pt
`\normalsize`	10pt	11pt	12pt
`\large`	12pt	12pt	14pt
`\Large`	14pt	14pt	17pt
`\LARGE`	17pt	17pt	20pt
`\huge`	20pt	20pt	25pt
`\Huge`	25pt	25pt	25pt

The documentclass memoir has two additional size commands:\miniscule which is smaller then \tiny and \HUGE which is bigger then \Huge.

standard font size

command 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt

\miniscule 4pt 5pt 6pt 7pt 8pt 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt

\tiny 5pt 6pt 7pt 8pt 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt

\scriptsize 6pt 7pt 8pt 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt

\footnotesize 7pt 8pt 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt

\small 8pt 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt

\normalsize 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt

\large 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt

\Large 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt 84pt

\LARGE 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt 84pt 96pt

\huge 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt 84pt 96pt 108pt

\Huge 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt 84pt 96pt 108pt 120pt

\HUGE 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt 84pt 96pt 108pt 120pt 132pt

The documentclass beamer class

	standard font size
command	8pt	9pt	10pt	11pt	12pt	14pt	17pt	20pt
tiny	5pt	5pt	5pt	6pt	6pt	6pt	8pt	10pt
scriptsize	5pt	6pt	7pt	8pt	8pt	8pt	10pt	12pt
footnotesize	6pt	7pt	8pt	9pt	10pt	10pt	12pt	14pt
small	7pt	8pt	9pt	10pt	11pt	12pt	14pt	17pt
normalsize	8pt	9pt	10pt	11pt	12pt	14pt	17pt	20pt
large	10pt	10pt	12pt	12pt	14pt	17pt	20pt	25pt
Large	11pt	11pt	14pt	14pt	17pt	20pt	25pt	29.86pt
LARGE	12pt	12pt	17pt	17pt	20pt	25pt	29.86pt	35.83pt
huge	14pt	14pt	20pt	20pt	25pt	29.86pt	35.83pt	42.99pt
Huge	17pt	17pt	25pt	25pt	25pt	35.83pt	42.99pt	51.59pt

1.2 other font size

By using the default classes and sizes, one can use 12 different font sizes: 5pt, 6pt, 7pt, 8pt, 9pt, 10pt, 11pt, 12pt, 14pt, 17pt, 20pt and 25pt.
To use more, one need first To use more font sizes, you first need a font in which has the desired size, i.e. not all fonts allow all sizes. If you use a size which is not provided by the font, you get an error message like this:

LaTeX Font Warning: Size substitutions with differences
(Font)              up to 4.17pt have occurred.

This means that the desired size is not available and the closest matching size is 4.17pt (points) away from the desired one.

1.2.1 command to change font size

First, use a font like lmodern and then you can set the font size:
{\fontsize{font size}{base line strech} \selectfont}

example

\documentclass{article}
…
\usepackage{lmodern}
…
\begin{document}
…
{\fontsize{40}{48} \selectfont Text}

output: Text

LaTeX font size

🌟 Exciting News! 🌟

LaTeX font size

1.1 change font size

1.2 other font size

1.2.1 command to change font size