Actress Rebel Wilson has been ordered to pay $4.1 million back to Bauer Media after the magazine publisher won its appeal to overturn her record defamation payout.

The Court of Appeal said Ms Wilson must repay the money, plus $60,316 in interest to Bauer Media.

She must also pay 80 per cent of the publisher's appeal court costs.

Ms Wilson was awarded more than $4.7 million in damages last year after a jury found Bauer Media had defamed Ms Wilson in a series of magazine articles published in May 2015.

The court found she had missed out on film roles because of the articles, which claimed Ms Wilson had lied about her age, real name and childhood.

But Ms Wilson's payout was overturned in May after the Court of Appeal found "there was no basis in the evidence for making any award of damages for economic loss".

It found the trial judge had relied on evidence from Ms Wilson and Hollywood agents to draw the conclusion that the actress had lost job opportunities due to the articles.

Rebel Wilson had argued that she lost film roles due to the defamatory articles. ( AAP: David Crosling )

The Court of Appeal said that in awarding compensation for economic losses, Justice John Dixon "relied also upon his assessment of the trajectory of Ms Wilson's career".

In its appeal against the decision, Bauer Media argued that the $4.7 million payout was excessive and should be set aside due to errors in fact and law.

Ms Wilson will keep a remaining $627,165 in damages from Bauer Media.

The initial payout sum would have been the largest defamation payment ever ordered by an Australian court.

Several media organisations questioned whether the decision set a new precedent for defamation payments.

Earlier this month, Ms Wilson said on Twitter that she would fight the decision to reduce her payout.