Unicode font


A Unicode font is a computer font that maps glyphs to code points defined in the Unicode Standard. The vast majority of modern computer fonts use Unicode mappings, even those fonts which only include glyphs for a single writing system, or even only support the basic Latin alphabet. Fonts which support a wide range of Unicode scripts and Unicode symbols are sometimes referred to as "pan-Unicode fonts", although as the maximum number of glyphs that can be defined in a TrueType font is restricted to 65,535, it is not possible for a single font to provide individual glyphs for all defined Unicode characters. This article lists some widely used Unicode fonts that support a comparatively large number and broad range of Unicode characters.

Background

The Unicode standard does not specify or create any font, a collection of graphical shapes called glyphs, itself. Rather, it defines the abstract characters as a specific number and also defines the required changes of shape depending on the context the glyph is used in. The choice of font, which governs how the abstract characters in the Universal Coded Character Set are converted into a bitmap or vector output that can then be viewed on a screen or printed, is left up to the user. If a font is chosen which does not contain a glyph for a code point used in the document, it typically displays a question mark, a box, or some other substitute character.
Computer fonts use various techniques to display characters or glyphs. A bitmap font contains a grid of dots known as pixels forming an image of each glyph in each face and size. Outline fonts use drawing instructions or mathematical formulæ to describe each glyph. Stroke fonts use a series of specified lines and additional information to define the profile, or size and shape of the line in a specific face and size, which together describe the appearance of the glyph.
Fonts also include embedded special orthographic rules to output certain combinations of letterforms be combined into special ligature forms. Operating systems, web browsers, and other software that extensively use typography, use a font to display text on the screen or print media, and can be programmed to use those embedded rules. Alternatively, they may use external script-shaping technologies, and they can also be programmed to use either a large Unicode font, or use multiple different fonts for different characters or languages.
No single "Unicode font" includes all the characters defined in the present revision of ISO 10646 standard, as more and more languages and characters
are continually added to it, and common font formats cannot contain more than 65,535 glyphs. As a result, font developers and foundries incorporate new characters in newer versions or revisions of a font, or in separate auxiliary fonts intended specifically for particular languages.
UCS has over 1.1 million code points, but only the first 65,536 had entered into common use before 2000.
The first Unicode fonts were Lucida Sans Unicode, Unihan font, and Everson Mono.

Issues

There are typographical ambiguities in Unicode, so that some of the unified Han characters will be typographically different in different regions. For example, Unicode point is typographically different between simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese. This has implications for the idea that a single typeface can satisfy the needs of all locales.
The design of Unicode ensures that such differences do not create semantic ambiguity, but the use of incorrect forms is often considered visually awkward or aesthetically inappropriate to native readers of East Asian languages.

Application of Unicode fonts

is now the standard encoding for many new standards and protocols, and is built into the architecture of operating systems, programming languages, and libraries, font formats and so on. Many other standards are also getting upgraded to be Unicode-compliant.

Utility software

Here is a selection of some of the utility software that can identify the characters present in a font file:
Of the many Unicode fonts available, those listed below are the most commonly used worldwide on mainstream computing platforms.
FontCharGlyphsKernpairs
Point : hinting/smoothing behaviorVersion & dateFilename,
size		Font familyFont weight,
style		Font
type		Serif
style		LicenseCreator / author Notes
Arial3,9883,9889090~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v6.80
2012-05-11		arial.ttf
ArialMedium, RegularOTF+TTONormal Sans Monotype CorporationIncluded with Microsoft Windows
Arial Unicode MS38,91750,37700~6: Smoothed.
7~18: Hinted.
19+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v1.01 sfnt rev 1
2002-11-18		ARIALUNI.TTF
Arial Unicode MSMedium, RegularOTF+TTONormal SansAgfa Monotype Corporation.
Monotype Corporation.		Included with Microsoft Office 2013 and earlier versions
Bitstream Cyberbit32,96129,9349350~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v2.0 beta
1998-03-22		Cyberbit.ttf
Bitstream CyberbitMedium, RomanTTFCoveBitstream Inc.For non-commercial use only.
BitstreamCyberCJK30,27528,6869350~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v2.0 beta
1998-03-17		Cyberbit.ttf
Bitstream CyberCJKMedium, Book, RomanTTFCoveBitstream Inc.For non-commercial use only.
Brampton1,9161,9790v0.16
2011-09-22		Brampton.ttf
BramptonTTFSlab serifOFL
Cardo2,8792,8822160~6: Smoothed.
7~12: Hinted.
13+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v0.099 sfnt rev 0.098999
2010-05-23		Cardo99s.ttf
CardoMedium, Book, RegularTTFCoveOFL v1.1David J. Perry.
Caslon Roman3,6833,6860v001.000
2003-10-23		CaslonRoman.sfd
CaslonRomanTTF -like licenseGeorge Williams
Charis SIL2,1724,66100~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v4.106 sfnt rev 4.106
2009-03-18		CharisSILR.ttf
Charis SILMedium, RegularTTFOFLSIL International
Chryſanþi Unicode 4,8184,38300+: Hinted & Smoothed.v3.1
2001-07-15		chrysuni.ttf
Chrysanthi UnicodeMedium, RegularTTFDolgthrasir Mioethdrauci.
Every Witch Way.		Commercial use must be first approved by author.
ClearlyU9,538
0v1.9
2002-11-22		cu12.bdf

& related other fonts in pkg		ClearlyUMediumMark Leisher. Computing Research lab, New Mexico State University.
Code200053,06863,5462390~5: Smoothed.
6~6: Hinted.
7+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v1.171 sfnt rev 1.1709
2008-06-12		CODE2000.TTF
Code2000Medium, Book, RegularTTFShareware
James Kass See SMP fonts for Code2001, Code2002.
DejaVu Sans5,4675,7622,6370~6: Smoothed.
7+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v2.32 sfnt rev 2.31999
2010-08-22		DejaVuSans.ttf
DejaVu SansMedium, BookOTF+TTONormal SansBitstream Vera license and public domain for additionsBitstream, Inc.
Tavmjong Bah.
public domain.
Doulos SIL2,1724,66100~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14~24: Hinted & Smoothed.
25+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v4.106
2009-03-18		DoulosSILR.ttf
Doulos SILMedium, Book, RegularTTFOFLSIL International
Everson Mono6,3916,39900~6: Smoothed.
7~12: Hinted.
13+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v5.203 sfnt rev v5.203
2010-07-03		Everson Mono.ttf
Everson MonoMedium, RegularTTFShareware
Michael EversonMonospaced width.
Gentium Regular1,4691,6992,8570~6: Smoothed.
7~12: Hinted.
13+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v1.02; 2005; sfnt rev 1.02
2005-11-20		GenR102.TTF
GentiumBook, RegularTTFOFLJ. Victor Gaultney. SIL International
Gentium Plus2,5135,58600~6: Smoothed.
7~12: Hinted.
13+: Smoothed.		v1.502 sfnt rev 1.502
2010-8-19		GentiumPlus-R.ttf
Gentium PlusMedium, Book, RegularTTFOFLSIL International
GNU FreeFont7,2038,99536,3020~7: Smoothed.
8~16: Hinted.
17+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v0412.2263 sfnt rev 412.226
2012-05-03		FreeSerif.ttf
FreeSans.ttf
FreeMono.ttf
FreeSerif FreeSans FreeMonoMedium TTFCoveFree Software Foundation
GNU Unifont 63,44663,44900+: Smoothed.v8.0.01 sfnt rev 8
2015-6-28		unifont-
8.0.01.ttf
unifont_upper_csur-
8.0.01.ttf
unifontMedium Bitmap, TTFRoman Czyborra .
HAN NOM A,
HAN NOM B		32,328
45,020		34,147
45,175		0
0		0~6: Smoothed.
7~12: Hinted.
13+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v2.0; 2005 sfnt rev 2
2005-02-05		HAN NOM A.TTF

HAN NOM B.TTF
HAN NOM A
HAN NOM B		Medium, Book, RegularTTFNo FitChan Nguyen, Thien Vien Chieu, To Minh Tam .
Horta1,8581,9880v0.7
2016-05-16		Horta demo.ttf
HortaTTFSansOFL
Junicode3,0223,09614,4380~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v0.6.17 sfnt rev 0.599991
2009-07-11		Junicode
-Regular.ttf
JunicodeMedium, Book, RegularTTFPeter S. Baker.
Kelvinch3,5253,516Roman 8231/64858
Italic 12732/85349
Bold 7751/87753
Bold-Italic 12364/78554 		0~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		V3.1
2016-04-03		 Kelvinch-Roman.otf
Kelvinch-Italic.otf
Kelvinch-Bold.otf
Kelvinch-BoldItalic.otf 		KelvinchRoman
Italic
Bold
Bold-Italic		OTF+TTOOblique Square CoveOFLPaul J. MIller
Linux Libertine2,5492,55200~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v4.7.5 sfnt rev 4.7
2010-06-15		LinLibertine
_Re-4.7.5.ttf
Linux LibertineMedium, Book, RegularOTF+TTO, OFLPhilipp H. Poll .
Lucida Grande2,2452,82600~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted & Smoothed.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v5.0d8e1 sfnt rev 1.2
2003-03-07		Lucida Grande.ttf
Lucida GrandeMedium, RegularOTFNormal SansBigelow & Holmes IncIncluded with Mac OS X. Any proportion.
Lucida Sans Unicode1,7651,77600~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted & Smoothed.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v2.00
1998-08-12		l_10646.ttf
Lucida SansMedium, RegularOTF+TTONormal SansBigelow & Holmes IncIncluded with Microsoft Windows.
Microsoft JhengHei28,95829,2205830~6: Smoothed.
7~20: Hinted & Smoothed.
21+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v6.02 sfnt rev 6.02
2009-02-25		msjh.ttf
Microsoft JhengHeiMedium, Book, RegularOTF+TTONormal SansMicrosoft CorporationIncluded with Microsoft Windows 7
Microsoft Sans Serif2,7883,07700~6: Smoothed.
7~14: Hinted.
15+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v5.02 sfnt rev 5.02
2009-02-12		micross.ttf
Microsoft Sans SerifMedium, Book, RegularOTF+TTONormal SansMicrosoft CorporationIncluded with Microsoft Windows.
New Gulim46,56749,28400~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v3.10 sfnt rev 1
2002-10-29		nGulim.ttf
New GulimMedium, RegularTTFNormal Sans. Obtuse CoveHanYang System Co.,LTD.Included with Microsoft Office. Any Proportion.
Noto65,53565,5350N/A1.001N/ANotoThin, Light, DemiLight, Regular, Medium, Bold, BlackOTFNormal SansOFLGoogleIncluded with Android
PragmataPro6,1487,41400~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		0.824
2016-09-16		PragmataProR_0824.ttf
PragmataProRegular, Bold, Italic, Bold Italic, Mono Regular, Mono Bold, Mono Italic, Mono Bold Italic,TTFNormal SansFabrizio Schiavi
Quivira11,05310,48600+: Smoothed.v4.1Quivira.otf
QuiviraNormalOTFCoveAlexander LangeProportional Serif. .
Segoe UI Regular5,0088,2930~6: Smoothed.
7+: Hinted & Smoothed		v5.32
2013-07-30		segoeui.ttf
Segoe UIRegularTTFMicrosoft CorporationIncluded with Microsoft Windows.
Squarish Sans CT1,6091,7570v0.10
2011-09-22		Squarish Sans CT Regular.ttf
Squarish Sans CTTTFSansOFLA version of the popular Bank Gothic
STIX3,2903,2921,0160+: Hinting & Smoothed.v1.0.0 sfnt rev 1.0
2010-04-29		STIXGeneral.otf
STIXGeneralMedium, Book, RegularOTFThe STI Pub Companies. The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. MicroPress, Inc. Elsevier, Inc..
Sun-ExtA,
Sun-ExtB		50,112
47,564		50,016
47,660		0
0		 0~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.
0~7: Smoothed.
8~18: Hinted.
19+: Hinted & Smoothed.		 v5.4 sfnt rev 5
2009-01-03
v5.4 sfnt rev 5.39999
2009-02-02		Sun-ExtA.ttf

Sun-ExtB.ttf
Sun-ExtA
Sun-ExtB		Medium, Book, RegularTTFNo FitBoth Freeware.
Proprietary		okuc.
Beijing ZhongYi Electronics Co.		 .
Tahoma1,9123,4126740~6: Smoothed.
7~12: Hinted.
13+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v5.06
2009-02-12		tahoma.ttf
Tahoma Medium, RegularOTF+TTONormal SansMicrosoft CorporationIncluded with Microsoft Windows.
Times New Roman2,7903,4148670~6: Smoothed.
7~13: Hinted.
14+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v5.05
2009-02-06		times.ttf
Times New RomanMedium, RegularOTF+TTOCoveProprietary;only some versions up to version 2.82 were FreewareThe Monotype Corporation.Proportional Serif. Included with Microsoft Windows.
TITUS Cyberbit Basic9,20910,04400~6: Smoothed.
7~12: Hinted.
13+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v3.0 sfnt rev 4
2005-10-08		TITUSCBZ.TTF
TITUS Cyberbit BasicMedium, RegularTTFCoveBitstream Inc / TITUS project.
WenQuanYi Bitmap Song41,295154,99701.0.0-RC1WenQuanYi Bitmap SongRegularMulti-strike Bitmap FontSong Style for ChineseIt has full coverage to GB18030 Hanzi at 11-16px font sizes. .
WenQuanYi Micro Hei34,70748,75500.2.0-betaWenQuanYi Micro Hei and WenQuanYi Micro Hei MonoRegular, LightTTCHei Style for ChineseDerived from the Droid Sans font and is readable in compact sizes.
WenQuanYi Zen Hei42,28543,6430v0.9.45 sfnt rev 0.89994
2010-03-11		wqy-zenhei.ttc
WenQuanYi Zen Hei, WenQuanYi Zen Hei Mono and WenQuanYi Zen Hei SharpMedium, RegularTTCHei Style for ChineseQianqian Fang and WenQuanYi Board of Trustees. .
Y.OzFontN21,95757,62100~18: Hinted & Smoothed.
19+: Hinted & Smoothed		v13.00 sfnt rev 5 Pen-Ji
2010-08-24		YOzRN.TTC
YOzFontNRegularTTCY.OzVoxSans-serif and Monospace. .
XITS3,2903,2921,0160+: Hinting & Smoothed.v1.0.10
2011-04-25		xits-regular.otf
XITSMedium, Book, RegularOTFOFLKhaled Hosny First four columns are identical to STIX of which this is math extension. .
FontCharGlyphsKernpairs
Point : hinting/smoothing behaviorVersion & dateFilename,
size		Font familyFont weight,
style		Font
type		Serif
style		LicenseCreator / author Notes

; Note

Comparison of fonts

Number of characters included by the above version of fonts, for different Unicode blocks are listed below. Basic Latin means that in the range called 'Basic Latin', there are 128 assigned codes, numbered 0 to 7F. The cells then show the number of those codes which are covered by each font. Unicode blocks listed are valid for Unicode version 8.0.

0000–077F

0780–139F


Range

Font

Range
----------------------------
Thaana
NKo 54
Samaritan
Mandaic
Arabic Extended-A
Devanagari 104112104103105106
Bengali 89918990
Gurmukhi 7577
Gujarati 78837878
Oriya 798479
Tamil 617170
Telugu 804280
Kannada 80
Malayalam 789578
Sinhala
Thai 861
Lao 6565656565
Tibetan 16816855193
Myanmar 15678
Georgian 7818378838317883
Hangul Jamo: Choseong 91919147
Hangul Jamo: Jungseong 676737
Hangul Jamo: Jongseong 8282828262
Ethiopic 356345345345346
Ethiopic Supplement

Range

Font

Range
----------------------------

13A0–1DBF


Range

Font

Range
----------------------------
Cherokee 858585858585
Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics 2963043329
Ogham
Runic 818181818181818181811
Tagalog
Hanunoo 22
Buhid
Tagbanwa
Khmer 1031
Mongolian 155155
Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Extended 291919
Limbu
Tai Le
New Tai Lue
Khmer Symbols
Buginese
Tai Tham
Combining Diacritical Marks Extended
Balinese
Sundanese
Batak
Lepcha
Ol Chiki
Sundanese Supplement
Vedic Extensions
Phonetic Extensions 1710910610911010922108108
Phonetic Extensions Supplement 383

Range

Font

Range
----------------------------

1DC0–257F


Range

Font

Range
----------------------------
Combining Diacritical Marks Supplement 13213565335432613131313
Latin Extended Additional 2472469688246246246252246824782462472472478
Greek Extended 2324
General Punctuation 5463966569106745677107741017477598567274525974454622091
Superscripts and Subscripts 62834928293429283434343429342928166346629634
Currency Symbols 2213256162222151623222622272918121722422222212218
Combining Diacritical Marks for Symbols 1182028520755121271127
Letterlike Symbols 95775135955959755775103132574810778810975
Number Forms 748584495454494955545854585050494105265057283053
Arrows 791141001992100191934209181372012
Mathematical Operators 162422462424221242242212116821824226134314165251
Miscellaneous Technical 41232333657228274154652719627244614141015211471209
Control Pictures 371211113714
Optical Character Recognition 10
Enclosed Alphanumerics 139731391010114182112139
Box Drawing 40115153974099117

Range

Font

Range
----------------------------

2580–2DFF


Range

Font

Range
----------------------------
Block Elements 8222022222118881020
Geometric Shapes 16809288829588221261879167347163829
Miscellaneous Symbols 12106118311081271281281281284451462241251122533128
Dingbats 16062174217011742191219112143174174
Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols-A 3282224011616
Supplemental Arrows-A 8223222421228
Braille Patterns
Supplemental Arrows-B 66
Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols-B 213681
Supplemental Mathematical Operators 1072194271
Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows 823515515
Glagolitic 86
Latin Extended-C 21291231121251721172121
Coptic 11466114
Georgian Supplement 38
Tifinagh 555557
Ethiopic Extended
Cyrillic Extended-A

Range

Font

Range
----------------------------

2E00–4DBF


Range

Font

Range
----------------------------
Supplemental Punctuation 12449637602291111
CJK Radicals Supplement
Kangxi Radicals 214
Ideographic Description Characters
CJK Symbols and Punctuation 57129401817314645
Hiragana 90909086839093
Katakana 94949492869495
Bopomofo 4037394037
Hangul Compatibility Jamo 1
Kanbun 141614
Bopomofo Extended 242424244
CJK Strokes
Katakana Phonetic Extensions
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months 20224258158232206179
CJK Compatibility 2491051180249154
CJK Unified Ideographs Extension A 2,3501646,5826,582180

Range

Font

Range
----------------------------

4DC0–FAFF


Range

Font

Range
----------------------------
Yijing Hexagram Symbols 6466
CJK Unified Ideographs 20,90220,90220,9327920,90220,90220,92420,9409,845
Yi Syllables
Yi Radicals 0
Lisu
Vai
Cyrillic Extended-B 78318089
Bamum
Modifier Tone Letters 91201119499
Latin Extended-D 711428572891281349737277
Syloti Nagri
Common Indic Number Forms
Phags-pa
Saurashtra
Devanagari Extended
Kayah Li
Rejang
Hangul Jamo Extended-A
Javanese
Myanmar Extended-B
Cham
Myanmar Extended-A
Tai Viet
Meetei Mayek Extensions
Ethiopic Extended-A
Latin Extended-E
Cherokee Supplement
Meetei Mayek
Hangul Syllables 2,3502,3506
Hangul Jamo Extended-B
Private Use Area 5543205651481,3733527883722922940229961276616475,91684554,6494,626
CJK Compatibility Ideographs 302302437302164661455363

Range

Font

Range
----------------------------

FB00–FFFF

List of SMP Unicode fonts

FontCharGlyphsKernpairs
Range: Hinting/
Smoothing Behavior		Version & DateFilename,
Size		Font FamilyFont Weight,
style		Font
type		Serif
style		LicenseCreator / Author Notes
Code20012,9853,13500~5: Smoothed.
6~6: Hinted.
7+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v0.919 sfnt rev 0.918945
2008-04-04		CODE2001.TTF
Code2001Medium, Book, RegularTTFAnyFreewareJames Kass.
New Athena Unicode2,9852,03300~6: Smoothed.
7~12: Hinted.
13+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v3.710 sfnt rev 3.70999
2010-05-02		newathu.ttf
New Athena UnicodeMedium, Book, RegularTTFAnyFreeware. SIL OFL.American Philological Association.
MPH 2B Damase2,7432,8951920~6: Smoothed.
7~12: Hinted.
13+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v002.010 sfnt rev 1
2005-10-18		damase_v.2.ttf
MPH 2B DamaseMedium, Book, RegularTTFAnyFreeware.Public Domain 2005. Mark Williamson.Includes 2092 BMP chars. .

10000–1F9FF

Unicode blocks listed are valid for Unicode version 8.0.

List of SIP Unicode fonts

FontCharGlyphsKernpairs
Range: Hinting/
Smoothing Behavior		Version & DateFilename,
Size		Font FamilyFont Weight,
style		Font
type		Serif
style		LicenseCreator / Author Notes
Code200220,41930,46900~5: Smoothed.
6~6: Hinted.
7+: Hinted & Smoothed.		v0.917 sfnt rev 0.916992
2005-04-04		CODE2002.TTF
Code2002Medium, Book, RegularTTFNormal SansFreewareJames Kass.

20000–2FFFF

Unicode blocks listed are valid for Unicode version 8.0.

List of SSP Unicode fonts

E0000–EFFFF

Unicode blocks listed are valid for Unicode version 8.0.