31 Free International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) fonts

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) fonts

The following is a comprehensive list of modern open-source fonts that support IPA symbols.

The fonts with the best IPA coverage include Charis, Gentium Plus, Doulus, and Andika, which were all designed specifically for linguists by SIL International. Google's Noto Sans and Noto Serif also have great coverage, as these fonts were designed with the goal of covering as many Unicode symbols as they can in a neat, modern style (no font in existence covers all 136,690 Unicode characters).

The other fonts on this list will cover all the IPA symbols and diacritics, however some have a few limitations to be aware of: some render some of the less common diacritics in slightly skewed positions, especially when attaching to symbols of differing heights; some may not render advanced tone contours (the ones that dyamically change in shape as you combine them); and some do not support ⱱ (which was a later addition to the IPA) or ᶑ (which is not officially recognised by the International Phonetic Association due to linguists not agreeing it exists). In any case, the problematic symbols are pretty rare.

Various Microsoft fonts also support IPA symbols extensively, but most are fairly dated, or too well-known to be interesting (with the exception of perhaps Cambria, which I quite like). These include Arial, Calibri, Cambria, Consolas (monospaced), Courier New (monospaced), Lucida Sans Unicode, Segoe UI, Tahoma and Times New Roman.

The fonts in no particular order:

Name: Noto Sans
Released: 2013
Developer: Google

Name: Noto Serif
Released: 2013
Developer: Google

Name: Charis SIL
Released: 2006
Developer: SIL International

Name: Andika
Released: 2008
Developer: SIL International

Name: Gentium Plus
Released: 2001
Developer: SIL International

Name: Doulos
Released: 2006
Developer: SIL International

Name: DejaVu Sans
Released: 2004
Developer: Bitstream Vera

Name: DejaVu Serif
Released: 2004
Developer: Bitstream Vera
Coverage: No contour tones

Name: Linux Libertine
Released: 2012
Developer: Libertine Open Fonts Project

Name: Linux Biolinum
Released: 2012
Developer: Libertine Open Fonts Project

Name: Fira Sans
Released: 2013
Developer: Mozilla Foundation

Name: Lato
Released: 2010
Developer: tyPoland

Name: Tinos
Released: 2013
Developer: Steve Matteson

Name: Arimo
Released: 2013
Developer: Steve Matteson

Name: Voces
Released: 2010
Developer: Ana Paula Megda and Pablo Ugerman

Name: Judson
Released: 2012
Developer: Daniel Johnson

Name: Cardo
Released: 2010
Developer: David Perry

Name: Istok Web
Released: 2008
Developer: Andrey V. Panov

Name: Brill
Released: 2014
Developer: Brill

Name: EB Garamond
Released: 2011
Developer: Georg Duffner

Name: Source Sans Pro
Released: 2011
Developer: Paul D. Hunt

Name: Cousine
Released: 2011
Developer: Steve Matteson

Name: Quivira
Released: Unknown
Developer: Alexander Lange

Name: LeedsUni
Released: 2009
Developer: Alec McAllister

Name: Dialekt Uni
Released: 2002
Developer: Lars Törnqvist

Name: Hindsight Unicode
Released: 2000
Developer: Starving-4 Entertainment

Name: STIX
Released: 2008
Developer: STIX Pub

Name: Thryomanes
Released: 1998
Developer: Herman Miller

Name: RomanCyrillic Std
Released: 2006
Developer: Sebastian Kempgen

Name: Junicode
Released: 2001
Developer: Peter S. Blake

Name: Arev Sans
Released: 2014
Developer: Bitstream Vera Sans

Name: KG Miss Speechy IPA
Released: 2015
Developer: Kimberly Geswein