The electrothermal properties of meshed carbon nanotube film (CNT–film) were investigated by means of simulation and experimental verification. Firstly, the influence of different mesh shape, orientation, mesh spacing and fillet radius on the temperature distribution and uniformity of electric heating element was studied by finite element analysis. The results demonstrate that the temperature distribution uniformity of CNT–film heating element is the best when the parameters of square grid, vertical current direction, mesh spacing d of 5 mm and fillet radius r of 1 mm were adopted. Then, on the basis of simulation optimization, experiments are carried out to verify the reliability of simulation results. The experimental results are consistent with the simulation results, indicating that the meshing scheme can significantly improve temperature uniformity and resistance value of CNT–film electric heating elements, avoiding the problems of uneven temperature distribution and high local temperature caused by uneven surface electrical properties of traditional CNT–film electric heating elements. The optimization scheme not only expands the potential use of CNT–film in surface heating area, but also provides a new idea and method for designing heating elements with local opened pore.