Papyrus Font: History, Uses and Alternatives

Where the Papyrus Font Came From

Papyrus was designed by Chris Costello and created in 1982. He wanted letters that felt like old writing on papyrus paper. The letters have rough, textured edges, as if drawn with a pen on uneven paper.

Later it was bundled with Microsoft Office on Windows and with macOS, so it reached millions of computers. Once the font Papyrus sat in everyone's font menu, people started using it for every "natural" or "exotic" design they could think of.

Papyrus is a commercial font. Today it is sold through Linotype, part of Monotype.

The Papyrus Font Style: How It Looks

Papyrus type font is a display face, made for a few words at large sizes.

• Rough edges: strokes look worn, like ink on handmade paper.
• Tall capitals with flared ends: letters feel carved and old.
• Uneven rhythm: it reads as hand-made, which is the whole point.
• One main style: most computers have only the regular style, so a Papyrus italic font in Word is usually a slant made by the software, not a real italic.
• Display only: it works for a few words, not for paragraphs.

It suits tea, spa, herbal and fantasy themes. The problem is that it was used so often for these themes that it now looks like a default choice, not a design choice.

Papyrus Font Meme and the Avatar Logo

The film Avatar (2009) used a modified version of Papyrus for its title logo. Many designers felt a huge movie should have had custom lettering, and the Avatar Papyrus font became a long-running internet joke. Search "Papyrus font Avatar" and you will find years of jokes. A Saturday Night Live sketch later made fun of a character who could not stop thinking about it, which is why people still search for the Papyrus font SNL joke.

That is why "Papyrus font meme" is such a common search. Designers often use Papyrus as the example of an overused font, along with Comic Sans. It is not a bad font. It is just everywhere.

Sans and Papyrus Font: The Undertale Joke

Gamers often search for the sans and Papyrus font, or a Papyrus sans font. This comes from the game Undertale, where two skeleton brothers are named Sans and Papyrus after the fonts Comic Sans and Papyrus, and their lines appear in those fonts. So the "comic Papyrus font" idea is really two separate fonts, not one. See our Comic Sans font page for the other half of the joke.

Papyrus Font on Instagram

How to get Papyrus font on Instagram is a common question, on iPhone and on Android. The honest answer: you cannot set Instagram's text to Papyrus. Instagram uses its own fonts in bios, captions and comments, and copied text never carries a font with it. There is also no real Papyrus font generator, Papyrus font text generator or tool for Papyrus font copy and paste.

What works:

1. Make an image: design your title or quote in an app that has Papyrus or an alternative, such as Canva, PowerPoint or Keynote on a Mac, then post the image or story.
2. Use Story fonts: Instagram Stories have a few built-in text styles. None is Papyrus, so pick the one that feels calmest and add a simple background.
3. Use Unicode styles: for bios and captions, our aesthetic fonts and fancy font pages give copy-paste styles that work on most phones.

On Papyrus font Instagram Android questions: Android phones do not come with Papyrus, so use the image method above.

Papyrus Font Download: Legal Ways

Many Macs already include Papyrus, so check your font menu first. On Windows, it has come with some versions of Microsoft Office. If you need it for a business logo or product, buy a licence from Monotype or its MyFonts store. Avoid sites offering Papyrus font downloads or a Papyrus font free download, as they share the file without permission and may bundle unwanted software.

Papyrus font for Google Docs: Google Docs uses its own font list and does not let you upload fonts. If Papyrus is not there, open More fonts and pick Cinzel or Uncial Antiqua for a similar mood.

Tasteful Alternatives to Papyrus

Want fonts like Papyrus without the meme? These fonts similar to Papyrus give the same old-world or natural mood in a cleaner way.

Cinzel and Uncial Antiqua are free on Google Fonts. Get Cinzel from the Cinzel page on Google Fonts. Pair a display font like Cinzel with a quiet sans serif for body text so the page stays readable.