The Best Fonts for ATS-Friendly Resumes: Readability Meets Tech

Why Font Choice Matters for ATS

Font selection might seem like a minor design detail, but for ATS-optimized resumes, it is a critical decision. The wrong font can cause parsing errors — characters may be misread, ligatures may confuse text extraction, and special glyphs may be dropped entirely.

The Top ATS-Safe Fonts

• Calibri — Modern sans-serif, default since Office 2007. The safest choice.
• Arial — Classic sans-serif, universally supported on all systems.
• Helvetica — Gold standard of typography, crisp and modern.
• Times New Roman — Classic serif, still professional for traditional industries.
• Georgia — Serif designed for screen readability.
• Garamond — Elegant serif with a smaller footprint.
• Cambria — Serif optimized for on-screen reading.

Fonts to Avoid

• Decorative and script fonts (Brush Script, Papyrus, Comic Sans)
• Custom or downloaded fonts not installed on standard systems
• Icon fonts like FontAwesome
• Very thin or very heavy weights

Font Consistency Best Practices

Use no more than two fonts — one for headings, one for body text. Maintain consistent spacing. Our free resume builder uses ATS-optimized fonts by default, so you never have to worry about compatibility.