Unicode font

Computer font that maps glyphs to code points defined in the Unicode Standard
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 (shipped with an operating system or produced by a well known commercial font company) that support a comparatively large number and broad range of Unicode characters.

There are typographical ambiguities in Unicode, so that some of the unified Han characters (seen in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) 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.

Unicode is now the standard encoding for many new standards and protocols, and is built into the architecture of operating systems (Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS, and many versions of Unix and Linux), programming languages (Ada, Perl, Python, Java, Common LISP, APL), and libraries (IBM International Components for Unicode (ICU), along with the Pango, Graphite, Scribe, Uniscribe, and ATSUI rendering engines), font formats (TrueType and OpenType) and so on. Many other standards are also getting upgraded to be Unicode compliant.

Number of characters included by the above version of fonts, for different Unicode blocks are listed below. Basic Latin (128: 0000–007F) 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. Cells shaded green indicate complete coverage. Cells shaded blue are not complete, but are the most complete of the fonts listed. Empty cells indicate that no character exists in that block.

+ List of Unicode fonts supporting SMP characters Font Char(s) Glyphs Kernpairs(Standard) Range(Point): Hinting/Smoothing Behavior Version & Date Filename,Size Font Family Font Weight,style Fonttype Serifstyle License Creator / Author (Copyright) Notes Code2001 2,985 3,135 0 v0.919 sfnt rev 0.9189452008 04 04 CODE2001. TTF(485 KB) Code2001 Medium (Normal), Book, Regular TTF Any Freeware James Kass New Athena Unicode 2,985 2,033 0 v3.710 sfnt rev 3.709992010 05 02 newathu. ttf(769 KB) New Athena Unicode Medium (Normal), Book, Regular TTF Any Freeware. SIL OFL. American Philological Association MPH 2B Damase 2,743 2,895 192 v002.010 sfnt rev 12005 10 18 damase v.2. ttf(879 KB) MPH 2B Damase Medium (Normal), Book, Regular TTF Any Freeware. Public Domain 2005. Mark Williamson.

+ List of Unicode fonts supporting SIP characters Font Char(s) Glyphs Kernpairs(Standard) Range(Point): Hinting/Smoothing Behavior Version & Date Filename,Size Font Family Font Weight,style Fonttype Serifstyle License Creator / Author (Copyright) Notes Code2002 20,419 30,469 0 v0.917 sfnt rev 0.9169922005 04 04 CODE2002. TTF(4.09 MB) Code2002 Medium (Normal), Book, Regular TTF Normal Sans Freeware James Kass