TeX Live 2025 is now available

TeX Live 2025 is now available on Overleaf. This update will give you access to new and updated TeX-related programs, fonts, and macro packages. This post covers all the key information and important changes you need to know about.

Overleaf releases an official update once a year after rigorous testing to ensure everything works as expected. We do this in order to ensure a consistent and stable experience for the millions of Overleaf users, and ensure our support team is able to assist you with any issues or questions.

What is TeX Live?

TeX Live is a free distribution of the TeX typesetting system that includes many TeX-related programs, fonts, and macros packages, including LaTeX, maintained by a core group of TeX users and the TeX User Group. Overleaf uses TeX Live on its compile servers to power the preview and produce your project PDF.

With the introduction of TeX Live 2025, users can expect enhanced performance, improved compatibility, and updated packages including ones that better support tagging for accessibility.

Will my existing projects work as usual?

Yes, your existing projects will still work as they will continue to use the TeX Live version from when they were created. We advise against changing TeX Live versions on an existing project unless necessary; changing may result in new errors or warnings.

Can I switch to TeX Live 2025 for existing projects?

Yes, you can easily switch to TeX Live 2025 for existing projects; the transition is simple and hassle-free. In the project you want to change, click Menu and navigate to Settings ― you’ll see a dropdown to select the TeX Live version. This allows you to quickly update your project to fit the requirements of publishers, preprint servers, and other platforms that use a specific TeX Live version to compile submissions.

If your project compiled without problems in TeX Live 2024 (or earlier versions), but is now throwing errors in TeX Live 2025, this can be due to changes in some packages. See below for some of the changes that might affect your project.

Key changes in TeX Live 2025

Creating tagged PDFs for accessibility

It's now possible to create tagged PDFs with TeX Live 2025. The LaTeX Tagging Project provides a comprehensive guide with examples, which can all be used on Overleaf. This brings LaTeX closer to producing PDFs that meet new accessibility standards with additional work ongoing. Tagging options include graphics, tables, lists, and math.

The LuaLaTeX compiler is recommended for automatic tagging of mathematical contents with MathML. It is still possible to use pdflatex with mathematical contents, but authors will need to provide the associated MathML file separately.

It should also be noted that the LaTeX tagging code is a work in progress, and not all packages are fully compatible yet — the current status is documented at the project tagging status. Note that Overleaf doesn't perform rolling updates to our TeX Live image, but you will eventually be able to opt into using the latest version via Overleaf Labs.

PDF 1.7 format by default

In this year's version of TeX Live, the PDF format has been updated to version 1.7, which is now available across all engines (tex, pdftex, xetex, luatex), including both plain TeX and LaTeX formats. This enhancement allows for better compatibility and features in the documents you create.

However, it’s important to note that some users, especially those working with printing companies, might still require the older version of TeX Live for specific projects. You may need to revert to an earlier version of TeX Live to ensure compatibility with the requirements of your printing service. The TeX Live 2025 documentation also suggests ways of generating documents with older versions.

You can find the official release notes for TeX Live 2025 on the TeX Users Group (TUG) website, as well as release notes for all versions.

Changes to array package

Following updates to the array package to support PDF tagging, other (tabular-related) packages that overwrite some internals of the LaTeX kernel may be broken, causing tabulars that contain p{...} type columns to raise errors when compiled. The supertabular package is one such example, as well as the glossaries package if you're using style=super to print your glossaries. As a workaround, authors can add the following lines after loading supertabular as a patch:

\makeatletter
\AddToHook{cmd/x@supertabular/after}
   {%
     \let\orig@startpbox@action\@startpbox@action
     \let\@startpbox@action\@startpbox
   }
\AddToHook{cmd/ST@restore/after}
   {%
     \let\@startpbox@action\orig@startpbox@action
   }
\makeatother

For other affected tabular-related packages — for example, when loading the dcolumn package in a RevTeX document — authors might try rolling back the version of array, by adding this line before loading dcolumn (or other tabular-related packages).

\usepackage{array}[=2016-10-06]

Packages must be loaded at the top level

\usepackage and \RequirePackage statements within groups {...} or environments will now cause a compile error (but loading packages within \IfXxxx{...}{...} conditionals is fine). This isn't a common mistake, but many template authors may have used commands from the setspace package mistakenly. The setspace package provides the macros

• \singlespacing
• \onehalfspacing
• \doublespacing
• \setstretch{...}

and the environments

• \begin{singlespace}...\end{singlespace}
• \begin{onehalfspace}...\end{onehalfspace}
• \begin{doublespace}...\end{doublespace}
• \begin{setspace}{...}...\end{setspace}

Some authors mistakenly use e.g. \doublespace instead, which actually starts a doublespace environment. Therefore any \RequirePackage{...} that follows \doublespace would cause a LaTeX compile error. The correct approach is to use the macro \doublespacing from the first list above.

This also affects the arabtex package when the graphicx package is also loaded. A solution is provided here, but given that the arabtex package contains outdated code, authors might want to consider using other packages, such as babel or polyglossia, to typeset Arabic script.

Other minor points

• Due to a bug, the macro \enlargethispage will cause compile errors with the memoir document class. A solution has been provided here.
• Don't load the ucs package or use the utf8x option with inputenc: they have been unnecessary since TeX Live 2022, and now break beamer if the \author{...} contains \\.
• The fontspec package no longer allows square brackets around font filenames — they are not needed, even if the font filename contains spaces.
• If you get the error "Command \textquotedbl unavailable in encoding OT1" while loading the packages upquote and listings and compiling with pdflatex, load \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} too.

TeX Live 2025 in Server Pro

TeX Live 2025 will be released to Server Pro customers soon. Admins can install TeX Live 2025 by updating their config and adopting the new image name. No upgrade is required. We’ll update this blog post when the image is updated.

Getting help

As always, if you need help at any time with your Overleaf project, then please reach out to our support team at support@overleaf.com, providing the link to your project. We’re here to help!