Tinos Font: History, Pairings and How to Use It

Tinos is a free serif designed by Steve Matteson and released in 2010 as one of the core fonts of Chrome OS. It comes in Regular and Bold with italics, and it is best known as a metric match for Times New Roman, so documents keep their layout when you switch fonts.

Where Tinos Came From

Tinos was designed by Steve Matteson and first appeared in 2010 as one of the core fonts of Chrome OS, alongside the sans serif Arimo and the monospaced Cousine. The family began life at Ascender Corporation, and Tinos was added to Google Fonts in November 2010.

The goal was practical. Tinos is metrically compatible with Times New Roman, which means every character takes up exactly the same width. A document written in Times New Roman keeps the same line breaks and page count when Tinos is used instead, which solves a real problem for people who share files across operating systems. In 2012 the Liberation fonts moved to version 2.0, which was based on these Chrome OS fonts, so the same design also reaches many Linux systems.

What Tinos Looks Like

Because it shares Times New Roman’s widths, Tinos also shares its general shape: fairly narrow letters, a modest x-height, sharp serifs and clear contrast between thick and thin strokes. Text sets tightly, so you fit a lot of words on a line. The look is formal and familiar, the kind of serif most readers know from essays, reports and newspapers.

Tinos was drawn with on-screen reading in mind, and it was updated in 2013 with improved hinting so the shapes render more cleanly at small sizes. It covers Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew and Vietnamese, which makes it useful for multilingual documents.

Weights and Styles

Tinos comes in two weights, Regular 400 and Bold 700, each with a true italic. There is no variable version and no light or black weight. That is a small family, but it matches the four styles of Times New Roman, which is exactly what document compatibility needs.

Use 400 for body text and 700 for headings and emphasis. Try Tinos at 700 for headings and 400 for text.

Where Tinos Works Best

Tinos is at its best where Times New Roman would normally be used: reports, academic papers, legal documents, letters and printable pages. It suits web pages that need to look like a traditional document, and it is a safe choice for content that will be exported to PDF or printed. With only two weights, it has limited range for expressive headlines, so it often works better as the body font under a sans serif heading.

Fonts That Pair Well with Tinos

Tinos pairs naturally with clean sans serifs, which add contrast and keep a traditional page from feeling dated. Its sister font Arimo was made for the same purpose and shares its metrics approach, so the two feel related. A neutral sans like Inter gives a more current look. Here are pages to explore:

• Inter and Tinos, modern headings over a classic serif body
• Arimo, the matching sans serif from the same family
• Inter, a neutral sans for headings and interfaces
• Public Sans, a plain, official tone for headings

Tinos as a Times New Roman Alternative

Tinos is the closest free match to Times New Roman because it was built to the same character widths. If you are replacing Times New Roman in a document or on a website and want the layout to stay the same, Tinos is the first font to try. For other free options with a similar feel, see Fonts similar to Times New Roman.

How to Use Tinos on Your Site

Load Tinos from Google Fonts with the CSS in the Use This Font panel, then set it as the font for your body text. List “Times New Roman” and serif after it, so the page keeps the same widths and feel while the font loads. Request only the 400 and 700 weights you need, plus the italics if your content uses them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers about Tinos.

Is Tinos Free for Commercial Use?

Yes. The current Google Fonts release of Tinos is under the SIL Open Font License, so you can use it on commercial websites, in apps and in print without paying. Earlier releases used the Apache License 2.0, which also allows commercial use.

Is Tinos the Same as Times New Roman?

No. Tinos is a separate design, but it matches Times New Roman’s character widths, so text takes up the same space and line breaks stay the same.

What Is the Best Font to Pair with Tinos?

Arimo is the natural partner, since it comes from the same Chrome OS family. Inter is a good choice if you want headings that look more modern.