Fonts common to all windows
A very nice discussion of the history of typefaces is taken from http://www.xnet.se/xpo/typetalk/ and archived here.
Another font comparison page is here, archived here. The same site has more excellent information about fonts here, archived here.
Another document cross-linking fonts is here.
The fonts that are most safe to use are:
Other options that usually work cross-platform are:
Fonts that work on Windows and MacOS but not Unix+X are:
- Verdana
- Georgia
- Comic Sans MS
- Trebuchet MS
- Arial Black
- Impact
Common sans-serif fonts
Helvetica is the granddaddy here, but Arial is more common on modern OS’s.
Helvetica
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Helvetica is a sans-serif font. It is a good choice for short text, perhaps a paragraph or two in length. Unix and Macintosh computers have had always had Helvetica, and it is a native font on PostScript printers.
Arial
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Arial is near-copy of Helvetica, updated slightly. Windows uses Arial in place of Helvetica.
Common serif fonts
Times is the grand-daddy of serif fonts, but Times New Roman is more common on recent OS’s.
Times
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Times (also called Times Roman) is the traditional serif font. It is available on Macintosh and Unix computers, and is a core PostScript font. Times was designed for use as newspaper column text. It has a small size, compared to most other fonts.
Times New Roman
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Times New Roman is Microsoft’s version of Times. It is available on Windows computers, and most Macintosh computers.
Common monospace fonts
Designed to mimic typewritten output, these fonts are often used when writing code. Courier is the grand-daddy, while most recent OS’s have Courier New.
Courier
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Courier is the traditional monospace font. It is available on Macintosh and Unix computers, and is a core PostScript font.
Courier New
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Courier New is Microsoft’s version of Courier. Most Windows and Macintosh computers will have Courier New.
Less-common sans-serif fonts
Verdana is popular, but still new to the scene. Tahoma’s style is half-way between Verdana and Arial. Comic Sans MS is often liked for its informal feel. Avante Garde is big and spacious. Impact and Arial Black are both designed for titles and headings. All of the fonts in this section suffer from the problem that most Unix machines don’t have the fonts.
Verdana
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
From around 2000 until mid-2002, Microsoft distributed a set of Web-optimized fonts, for free use. They have stopped allowing downloads, but still ship the fonts with Windows. Verdana is a sans-serif replacement. Its lowercase letters are very large, compared to the overall size of the font, which makes text easy to read on the web.
Unfortunately, the stretching of Verdana lowercase letters has two drawbacks. One issue is that the stretched letters don’t look quite right when printed—compare them to Arial, for example. The other problem is that some people don’t have the Verdana font, and these people may have trouble reading a web page that uses Verdana. The problem is that while 9 pt Verdana is readable, 9 pt Arial is not readable, and a person who doesn’t have Verdana will probably have their web browser choose Arial as the substitute font.
Tahoma
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Tahoma is another of Microsoft’s web fonts. It is not as widely available as Verdana or Arial are.
Arial Black
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Arial Black is a version of Arial designed for headlines.
Comic Sans MS
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Comic Sans MS is a sans-serif font with a soft, rounded style.
Impact
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Impact is a Microsoft Web font, designed for headlines.
Avant Garde
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Avant Garde or Century Gothic. HP Printers call this Avant Garde Gothic.
Less-common serif fonts
Georgia is a web-optimized serif font, but is still a newcomer. Palatino is as old and established as Times is, but looks terrible on recent Unix systems. Century Schoolbook, Garamond, and Bookman seem to be available on Unix systems, but I am not sure how widespread they are on Windows/Mac systems.
Georgia
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Georgia is a Microsoft Web font. It has serifs but also has large lowercase letters, similar to Verdana. It is a nicely readable screen font, but has the same problems that Verdana does: it looks bad when printed, and paged designed for Georgia will look bad if rendered in Times, because of the difference in letter size.
Palatino
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Palatino is a less-commonly used serif font. It is available on Macintosh and Unix computers, and is a core PostScript font. It is available on Windows computers under alternate font names.
Palatino was originally designed as a display font—for example, to be used in lettering on signs. Nevertheless, it is commonly used to set body text.
Bookman
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Bookman, also called Bookman Old Style. Not shipped with WinXP. Shipped with MS Office 2000.
Garamond
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Garamond. There are a lot of variants of this font. Not shipped with WinXP.
Century Schoolbook
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Century Schoolbook is a core postscript font. You cannot rely on its being present on Windows computers. Not shipped with WinXP.
Less-common monospace fonts
Andale Mono is similar to Verdana and Georgia; it is a new font, not widespread, and not available on Unix or on some Windows computers.
Andale Mono
ABCDE abcde 012345 &*.
Andale Mono is yet another Microsoft’s monospace typeface. It has some resemblance to Monaco. Not shipped with WinXP.
Windows 10 font list
Introduction
An important development in Windows 10 is the Universal Windows Platform (UWP): a converged app platform allowing a developer to create a single app that can run on all Windows devices. Windows fonts are one aspect of this convergence: Windows 10 introduces a recommended UWP font set that is common across all editions that support UWP, including Desktop, Server, and Xbox.
A number of additional fonts are available for Desktop and Server, including all other fonts from previous releases. However, not all of these are pre-installed by default in all images. In order to make disk usage and font choices more relevant to users according to the languages that they use, a number of fonts have been moved into optional, on-demand packages. These packages are designed around the different scripts that fonts are primarily intended to support, and most are installed automatically by Windows Update when the associated languages are enabled in language settings (for example, by enabling a keyboard). Any of these Feature On Demand (FOD) packages can also be installed manually via Settings. To add font packages manually, select the Start button, and then select Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Manage optional features.
The following is a list of desktop font sets that are present in the most updated version (2004, May 2020 release) of Windows 10.
Below you will also find list of fonts in each of the Feature On Demand (FOD) packages.
Please note: Not all of the Desktop fonts will be in non-desktop editions of Windows 10 such as Xbox, HoloLens, Surface Hub, etc.
| Family | Font Name | File Name | Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arial | Arial | Arial.ttf | 7.00 |
| Arial Italic | Ariali.ttf | 7.00 | |
| Arial Bold | Arialbd.ttf | 7.00 | |
| Arial Bold Italic | Arialbi.ttf | 7.00 | |
| Arial Black | Arial Black | Ariblk.ttf | 5.23 |
| Bahnschrift | Bahnschrift * | Bahnschrift.ttf | 2.06 |
| Calibri | Calibri Light | Calibril.ttf | 6.23 |
| Calibri Light Italic | Calibrili.ttf | 6.23 | |
| Calibri | Calibri.ttf | 6.23 | |
| Calibri Italic | Calibrii.ttf | 6.23 | |
| Calibri Bold | Calibrib.ttf | 6.23 | |
| Calibri Bold Italic | Calibriz.ttf | 6.23 | |
| Cambria | Cambria | Cambria.ttc | 6.99 |
| Cambria Italic | Cambriai.ttf | 6.98 | |
| Cambria Bold | Cambriab.ttf | 6.98 | |
| Cambria Bold Italic | Cambriaz.ttf | 6.98 | |
| Cambria Math | Cambria Math | Cambria.ttc | 6.99 |
| Candara | Candara Light * | Candaral.ttf | 5.63 |
| Candara Light Italic * | Candarali.ttf | 5.63 | |
| Candara | Candara.ttf | 5.62 | |
| Candara Italic | Candarai.ttf | 5.62 | |
| Candara Bold | Candarab.ttf | 5.62 | |
| Candara Bold Italic | Candaraz.ttf | 5.62 | |
| Comic Sans MS | Comic Sans MS | Comic.ttf | 5.14 |
| Comic Sans MS Italic | Comici.ttf | 5.14 | |
| Comic Sans MS Bold | Comicbd.ttf | 5.14 | |
| Comic Sans MS Bold Italic | Comicz.ttf | 5.14 | |
| Consolas | Consolas | Consola.ttf | 7.00 |
| Consolas Italic | Consolai.ttf | 7.00 | |
| Consolas Bold | Consolab.ttf | 7.00 | |
| Consolas Bold Italic | Consolaz.ttf | 7.00 | |
| Constantia | Constantia | Constan.ttf | 5.93 |
| Constantia Italic | Constani.ttf | 5.93 | |
| Constantia Bold | Constanb.ttf | 5.93 | |
| Constantia Bold Italic | Constanz.ttf | 5.93 | |
| Corbel | Corbel Light * | Corbell.ttf | 6.01 |
| Corbel Light Italic * | Corbelli.ttf | 6.01 | |
| Corbel | Corbel.ttf | 6.01 | |
| Corbel Italic | Corbeli.ttf | 6.01 | |
| Corbel Bold | Corbelb.ttf | 6.01 | |
| Corbel Bold Italic | Corbelz.ttf | 6.01 | |
| Courier New | Courier New | Cour.ttf | 6.92 |
| Courier New Italic | Couri.ttf | 6.91 | |
| Courier New Bold | Courbd.ttf | 6.92 | |
| Courier New Bold Italic | Courbi.ttf | 6.91 | |
| Ebrima | Ebrima | Ebrima.ttf | 5.14 |
| Ebrima Bold | Ebrimabd.ttf | 5.14 | |
| Franklin Gothic Medium | Franklin Gothic Medium | Framd.ttf | 5.02 |
| Franklin Gothic Medium Italic | Framdit.ttf | 5.01 | |
| Gabriola | Gabriola | Gabriola.ttf | 5.93 |
| Gadugi | Gadugi | Gadugi.ttf | 1.12 |
| Gadugi Bold | Gadugib.ttf | 1.12 | |
| Georgia | Georgia | Georgia.ttf | 5.59 |
| Georgia Italic | Georgiai.ttf | 5.59 | |
| Georgia Bold | Georgiab.ttf | 5.59 | |
| Georgia Bold Italic | Georgiaz.ttf | 5.59 | |
| HoloLens MDL2 Assets | HoloLens MDL2 Assets * | Holomdl2.ttf | 2.02 |
| Impact | Impact | Impact.ttf | 5.11 |
| Ink Free | Ink Free * | Inkfree.ttf | 1.00 |
| Javanese Text | Javanese Text | Javatext.ttf | 1.10 |
| Leelawadee UI | Leelawadee UI | Leelawui.ttf | 5.05 |
| Leelawadee UI Semilight | Leeluisl.ttf | 5.05 | |
| Leelawadee UI Bold | Leelauib.ttf | 5.05 | |
| Lucida Console | Lucida Console | Lucon.ttf | 5.01 |
| Lucida Sans Unicode | Lucida Sans Unicode | L_10646.ttf | 5.01 |
| Malgun Gothic | Malgun Gothic | Malgun.ttf | 6.68 |
| Malgun Gothic Bold | Malgunbd.ttf | 6.68 | |
| Malgun Gothic Semilight * | Malgunsl.ttf | 6.68 | |
| Marlett | Marlett | Marlett.ttf | 5.01 |
| Microsoft Himalaya | Microsoft Himalaya | Himalaya.ttf | 5.23 |
| Microsoft JhengHei | Microsoft JhengHei Light | Msjhl.ttc | 6.14 |
| Microsoft JhengHei | Msjh.ttc | 6.14 | |
| Microsoft JhengHei Bold | MSJHBD.ttc | 6.13 | |
| Microsoft JhengHei UI Light | Msjhl.ttc | 6.14 | |
| Microsoft JhengHei UI | Msjh.ttc | 6.14 | |
| Microsoft JhengHei UI Bold | MSJHBD.ttc | 6.13 | |
| Microsoft New Tai Lue | Microsoft New Tai Lue | Ntailu.ttf | 5.99 |
| Microsoft New Tai Lue Bold | Ntailub.ttf | 5.99 | |
| Microsoft PhagsPa | Microsoft PhagsPa | Phagspa.ttf | 6.00 |
| Microsoft PhagsPa Bold | PhagsPaB.ttf | 6.00 | |
| Microsoft Sans Serif | Microsoft Sans Serif | Micross.ttf | 7.00 |
| Microsoft Tai Le | Microsoft Tai Le | Taile.ttf | 6.00 |
| Microsoft Tai Le Bold | TaiLeb.ttf | 6.00 | |
| Microsoft YaHei | Microsoft YaHei Light | Msyhl.ttc | 6.23 |
| Microsoft YaHei | Msyh.ttc | 6.25 | |
| Microsoft YaHei Bold | Msyhbd.ttc | 6.25 | |
| Microsoft YaHei UI Light | Msyhl.ttc | 6.23 | |
| Microsoft YaHei UI | Msyh.ttc | 6.25 | |
| Microsoft YaHei UI Bold | Msyhbd.ttc | 6.25 | |
| Microsoft Yi Baiti | Microsoft Yi Baiti | Msyi.ttf | 6.00 |
| MingLiU-ExtB | MingLiU-ExtB | Mingliub.ttc | 7.02 |
| PMingLiU-ExtB | Mingliub.ttc | 7.02 | |
| MingLiU_HKSCS-ExtB | Mingliub.ttc | 7.02 | |
| Mongolian Baiti | Mongolian Baiti | Monbaiti.ttf | 5.53 |
| MS Gothic | MS Gothic | Msgothic.ttc | 5.32 |
| MS PGothic | Msgothic.ttc | 5.32 | |
| MS UI Gothic | Msgothic.ttc | 5.32 | |
| MV Boli | MV Boli | Mvboli.ttf | 6.84 |
| Myanmar Text | Myanmar Text | Mmrtext.ttf | 1.18 |
| Myanmar Text Bold | Mmrtextb.ttf | 1.18 | |
| Nirmala UI | Nirmala UI Semilight | Nirmalas.ttf | 1.40 |
| Nirmala UI | Nirmala.ttf | 1.40 | |
| Nirmala UI Bold | Nirmalab.ttf | 1.40 | |
| Palatino Linotype | Palatino Linotype | Pala.ttf | 5.03 |
| Palatino Linotype Italic | Palai.ttf | 5.03 | |
| Palatino Linotype Bold | Palab.ttf | 5.03 | |
| Palatino Linotype Bold Italic | Palabi.ttf | 5.03 | |
| Segoe MDL2 Assets | Segoe MDL2 Assets * | Segmdl2.ttf | 1.82 |
| Segoe Print | Segoe Print | Segoepr.ttf | 5.04 |
| Segoe Print Bold | Segoeprb.ttf | 5.04 | |
| Segoe Script | Segoe Script | Segoesc.ttf | 5.02 |
| Segoe Script Bold | Segoescb.ttf | 5.02 | |
| Segoe UI | Segoe UI Light | Segoeuil.ttf | 5.62 |
| Segoe UI Light Italic | Seguili.ttf | 5.32 | |
| Segoe UI Semilight | Segoeuisl.ttf | 5.62 | |
| Segoe UI Semilight Italic | Seguisli.ttf | 5.32 | |
| Segoe UI | Segoeui.ttf | 5.62 | |
| Segoe UI Italic | Segoeuii.ttf | 5.32 | |
| Segoe UI Semibold | Seguisb.ttf | 5.62 | |
| Segoe UI Semibold Italic | Seguisbi.ttf | 5.32 | |
| Segoe UI Bold | Segoeuib.ttf | 5.62 | |
| Segoe UI Bold Italic | Segoeuiz.ttf | 5.32 | |
| Segoe UI Black | Seguibl.ttf | 2.02 | |
| Segoe UI Black Italic | Seguibli.ttf | 2.02 | |
| Segoe UI Historic | Segoe UI Historic * | Seguihis.ttf | 1.03 |
| Segoe UI Emoji | Segoe UI Emoji | Seguiemj.ttf | 1.29 |
| Segoe UI Symbol | Segoe UI Symbol | Seguisym.ttf | 6.23 |
| SimSun | SimSun | Simsun.ttc | 5.16 |
| NSimSun | Simsun.ttc | 5.16 | |
| SimSun-ExtB | Simsunb.ttf | 5.03 | |
| Sitka | Sitka Small | Sitka.ttc | 1.12 |
| Sitka Small Italic | SitkaI.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Small Bold | SitkaB.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Small Bold Italic | SitkaZ.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Text | Sitka.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Text Italic | SitkaI.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Text Bold | SitkaB.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Text Bold Italic | SitkaZ.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Subheading | Sitka.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Subheading Italic | SitkaI.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Subheading Bold | SitkaB.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Subheading Bold Italic | SitkaZ.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Heading | Sitka.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Heading Italic | SitkaI.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Heading Bold | SitkaB.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Heading Bold Italic | SitkaZ.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Display | Sitka.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Display Italic | SitkaI.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Display Bold | SitkaB.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Display Bold Italic | SitkaZ.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Banner | Sitka.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Banner Italic | SitkaI.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Banner Bold | SitkaB.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sitka Banner Bold Italic | SitkaZ.ttc | 1.12 | |
| Sylfaen | Sylfaen | Sylfaen.ttf | 5.06 |
| Symbol | Symbol | Symbol.ttf | 5.01 |
| Tahoma | Tahoma | Tahoma.ttf | 7.00 |
| Tahoma Bold | Tahomabd.ttf | 7.00 | |
| Times New Roman | Times New Roman | Times.ttf | 7.01 |
| Times New Roman Italic | Timesi.ttf | 7.01 | |
| Times New Roman Bold | Timesbd.ttf | 7.01 | |
| Times New Roman Bold Italic | Timesbi.ttf | 7.01 | |
| Trebuchet MS | Trebuchet MS | Trebuc.ttf | 5.15 |
| Trebuchet MS Italic | Trebucit.ttf | 5.15 | |
| Trebuchet MS Bold | Trebucbd.ttf | 5.15 | |
| Trebuchet MS Bold Italic | Trebucbi.ttf | 5.15 | |
| Verdana | Verdana | Verdana.ttf | 5.33 |
| Verdana Italic | Verdanai.ttf | 5.33 | |
| Verdana Bold | Verdanab.ttf | 5.33 | |
| Verdana Bold Italic | Verdanaz.ttf | 5.33 | |
| Webdings | Webdings | Webdings.ttf | 5.01 |
| Wingdings | Wingdings | Wingding.ttf | 5.01 |
| Yu Gothic | Yu Gothic Light | YuGothL.ttc | 1.90 |
| Yu Gothic Regular | YuGothR.ttc | 1.90 | |
| Yu Gothic Medium * | Yugothm.ttc | 1.90 | |
| Yu Gothic Bold | YuGothB.ttc | 1.90 | |
| Yu Gothic UI Light * | YuGothL.ttc | 1.90 | |
| Yu Gothic UI Semilight * | YuGothR.ttc | 1.90 | |
| Yu Gothic UI Regular * | Yugothm.ttc | 1.90 | |
| Yu Gothic UI Semibold * | YuGothB.ttc | 1.90 | |
| Yu Gothic UI Bold * | YuGothB.ttc | 1.90 |
Fonts included in Feature On Demand (FOD) packages
Here’s a comprehensive listing of which font families are included with each of the optional font features. Some font families may include multiple fonts for different weights and styles.
