How do I change emacs default font size and font type?

Get current font by: M-x describe-font

(Hit Enter if you see Font name (default current choice for ASCII chars): )

This will show a list of attributes which can be set in init.el. After you've had a look the values, minimize the message buffer by C-x 1.

Now do a M-x customize-face and:

1. Scroll down to the "Default" section
2. Change the value of "Font Family"
3. Change the value of "Height"
4. Hit Enter on "State" and then 1 = Save for Future Sessions

Alternatively, in init.el you could have something like:

(set-face-attribute 'default nil :font "Monospace" :height 160)

Note: If you have a preset for window size (width and height), the height attribute of the font is going to interfere with that layout.

You can use the menu bar. Go to Options->Set Default Font....

After you choose a font, don't forget to press Options->Save Options—otherwise your new font will not be saved after you close Emacs.

You can also do the following in your .emacs file.

Emacs 23.1

(set-frame-font "Inconsolata 12" nil t)

Older versions of Emacs

(set-default-font "Inconsolata 12" nil t)