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Urdu Script
Several letters specific to Urdu were added to the Persian script, which itself is an adaptation of Arabic script.
In time, letters for additional languages were added to Urdu script.
Arabic script is written from right-to-left but numbers are written from left-to-right. Numerals vary by language and Unicode has set aside two ranges for Arabic script numbers: "Arabic-Indic digits" (U+0660 - U+0669) for use with the Arabic language and "Eastern Arabic-Indic digits" (U+06F0 - U+06F9) for use with all other languages that employ Arabic script.
Since Arabic script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its context/position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides), and final (joined on the right). Arabic codepoints in the U+0600 - U+06FF range represent all of the letters without regard to their position. It is up to the font to show the letter with the proper appearance. For compatibility with existing standards, Unicode also defined codepoints with explicit positions for most letters (ARABIC PRESENTATION FORMS-A & -B), although use of these characters is discouraged. Likewise, explicit ligatures are also encoded in the PRESENTATION blocks.
Arabic Supplement block
Unicode version 4.1.0 added the Arabic Supplement block (U+0750 - U+077F) which contains additional, extended Arabic letters mainly for languages used in Northern and Western Africa (such as Fulfulde, Hausa, Songhoy and Wolof). On Windows, a new version of the Uniscribe engine (usp10.dll) is required for the Arabic Supplement letters to join properly. Refer to SIL's "Replacing your Uniscribe dll" page.
Assume the fonts shown here do not support the Arabic Supplement block unless it is noted in the font's "Support" line.
Urdu
The Urdu language is used in Pakistan and parts of India and other countries. It is one of India's "official" languages. It is also the state language of Jammu & Kashmir, India, although Kashmiri is more widely used. All of the fonts on this page will, at a minimum, support Urdu
Balochi / Baluchi
The Balochi language is used in parts of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. It is written using Urdu script with added letters. (It is sometimes written using the Latin alphabet.) Assume the fonts shown here do not support Balochi unless it is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
Brahui
The Brahui language is used in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is seldom written, but in Pakistan Urdu script is used with one added letter (U+06B7). Assume the fonts shown here do not support Brahui unless it is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
Kashmiri
Kashmiri is one of India's "official" languages. The Kashmiri language was traditionally written using the Brahmi-derived Sharada script but is now usually written using either the Urdu script with added letters or Devanagari. Assume the fonts shown here do not support Kashmiri unless it is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
Lahnda / Seraiki
Lahnda / Seraiki is spoken in parts of Pakistan and India. Hindus generally write it with the Lahnda script, which has not yet been encoded in Unicode. Muslims generally write it using Urdu script with added letters. Note that two alternate letters, U+0759 and U+0768, are in Unicode's "Arabic Supplement" block. See the notes above about this block and its Uniscribe requirements.
Assume the fonts shown here do not support Lahnda / Seraiki unless "Lahnda" is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line. And assume the font does not support U+0759 and U+0768 unless the Support line also notes the Arabic Supplement block.
Punjabi Shahmukhi
Shahmukhi is a version of Persian script similar to Urdu that is used to write Punjabi in Pakistan. Gurmukhi script is used for writing Punjabi in India, especially by Sikhs. Assume the fonts shown here do not support Punjabi Shahmukhi unless "Shahmukhi" is noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
| font sample * | font information |
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Aleem Urdu Unicode
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(Aleem Urdu Unicode.ttf) Note: Urdu glyphs used for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9). Contains no European digits (U+0030 - U+0039). Source: Free download from Deutsche Welle. Stats: Version 2.00 December 17, 2004 has 326 glyphs and 7 kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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Arabic Typesetting
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(arabtype.volt.ttf) Note: Includes VOLT tables. Source: Available from the Microsoft VOLT users community. Once you sign up, download the "Volt supplemental files" self-extracting archive (voltsupplementalfiles.exe) listed under "What's New". A later, more complete version comes with Microsoft Office Proofing Tools 2003. Stats: Version 0.3 2001 has 1,901 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Latin OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, zz01) |
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Arial
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(arial.ttf, arialbd.ttf, arialbi.ttf and ariali.ttf) Source: Supplied with the Windows XP SP2 (service pack 2) update. Older versions were supplied with various Microsoft products and the Smart package of Microsoft's core fonts project. Stats: Version 3.00 has 1,674 glyphs and 909 kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Cyrillic (Russian plus other Slavic and non-Slavic languages), Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Vietnamese. Warning: Versions prior to 3.00 supported only the Arabic letters used for Arabic and Persian languages. OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, MAR) |
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Arial Unicode MS
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(arialuni.ttf) Source: Comes with Microsoft's Office 2000, FrontPage 2000, Office XP and Publisher 2002. Stats: Version 1.00 has 50,377 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Balochi, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu), Armenian, Cyrillic (all or most of range), Devanagari, Georgian (Mkhedruli and Asomtavruli), Greek (including polytonic and Coptic characters), Gurmukhi, Hebrew, IPA, Japanese (Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji/Han Ideographs), Kannada, Korean (Hangul only), Latin, Tamil, Thai, Vietnamese OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, Farsi, Urdu), Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Han Ideographic (default, Japanese, Chinese simplified, Chinese traditional), Kana (default, Japanese), Kannada, Korean, Tamil |
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Art fonts
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Fonts shown:
Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (...) |
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BPG Glaho Arial V5 Big
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(BPG_Glaho_Arial_V5_big.ttf) Note: There is also a BPG-specific font called "Arial Unicode MS" (BPG_Glaho_Arial_Unicode_MS_V5.ttf) with similar Unicode range support as BPG Glaho Arial V5 Big. Source: Free download from either the shavlego file area or the bpgfonts file area. Stats: Version 3.00 has 1,757 glyphs and 1,172 kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Cyrillic (Russian plus other Slavic and non-Slavic languages), Georgian (Mkhedruli), Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Vietnamese OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (...), Latin |
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Code2000
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(code2000.ttf) Source: Download this shareware font ($5) from James Kass's webpage. Stats: Version 1.16 has 61,864 glyphs and 239 kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Baluchi, Kirghiz, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Armenian, Bengali, Braille, Canadian Syllabics (all syllabaries, all characters), Cherokee, Chinese (Bopomofo only, including Extended), Cirth, Coptic, Cyrillic (all or most of range), Devanagari, Ethiopic (including supplement and extended blocks), Ewellic, Georgian (Mkhedruli and Asomtavruli), Greek (including polytonic and Coptic characters), Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hebrew, IPA, Japanese (Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji/Han Ideographs including Extension A), Klingon, Korean (Hangul only), Lao, Latin, Limbu, Mongolian, N'Ko, Ogham, Phaistos, Runic, Syriac, Tamil, Telugu, Tengwar, Thaana, Thai, Tifinagh, Vietnamese, Yi OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Buhid, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Han Ideographic, Hangul, Hangul Jamo, Hebrew, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Latin, Malayalam, Mongolian, Myanmar, N'Ko, Tamil, Telugu, Thai |
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Diwani fonts
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Fonts shown:
Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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Diwani outline fonts
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Fonts shown:
Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (...) |
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Farsi Simple fonts
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Fonts shown:
Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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Lateef
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(LateefRegOT.ttf) Source: Free download from SIL International's Arabic script Unicode font page. Stats: Version 1.0rc1 build 117/117 has 1,147 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Parkari, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek; Also includes letters in the "Arabic Supplement" block), Latin OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, Kurdish, Sindhi, Urdu), Latin |
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Led Italic Font
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(leditfnt.ttf) Note: Sample shown in italics. Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Stats: Version 2.03 has 395 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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Microsoft Sans Serif
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(micross.ttf) Source: Supplied with Windows XP SP2 (service pack 2). Older versions were supplied with Windows XP and Windows 2000. Stats: Version 1.41 has 2,257 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Cyrillic (all or most of range), Greek (including polytonic and Coptic characters), Hebrew, Latin (basic and beyond), Thai, Vietnamese Warning: IPA, Greek polytonic, Greek Coptic, and many Cyrillic characters were only added with version 1.41. OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, MAR) |
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Nafees Naskh
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(Nafees Naskh.ttf) Note: Uses Urdu-style glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic (U+06F0 - U+06F9) and European (U+0030 - U+0039) digits. Contains no Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669). Source: Free download from the Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing (CRULP). Stats: Version 002.000 has 581 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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Nafees Nastaleeq
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(Nafees Nastaleeq.ttf) Note: Uses Urdu-style glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic (U+06F0 - U+06F9) and European (U+0030 - U+0039) digits. Contains no Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669). Source: Free download from the Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing (CRULP). Stats: Version 001.001 has 980 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Persian, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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Nafees Pakistani Naskh
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(Nafees_Pakistani_Naskh.ttf) Note: Uses Urdu style glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic (U+06F0 - U+06F9) and European (U+0030 - U+0039) digits. Source: Free download from the Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing (CRULP). Stats: Version 002.000 has 745 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Azeri, Balochi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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Nafees Web Naskh
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(NafeesWeb.ttf) Note: Urdu glyphs used for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9). No Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669). Source: Free download from the Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing (CRULP). Stats: Version 1.2 has 328 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu), Latin OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, zz01) |
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Old Antic fonts
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Fonts shown:
Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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PakType Naqsh
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(PakType Naqsh 2.2.ttf) Style is handwritten. Source: Free download from the Pakistani Typography (PakType) Project. Stats: Version 2.2 has 1,849 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Parkari, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), IPA, Latin, Vietnamese OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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PakType Tehreer
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(PakType-Tehreer1.3.ttf) Source: Free download from the Pakistani Typography (PakType) Project. Stats: Version 1.3 has 869 glyphs and 480 kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Parkari, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek; Also includes letters in the "Arabic Supplement" block) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, Sindhi, Urdu) |
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PT Bold fonts
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Fonts shown:
Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, zz01) |
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PT Bold Arch
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(ptbldarc.ttf) Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Stats: Version 2.03 has 395 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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PT Separated Baloon
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(ptsepbal.ttf) Note: Arabic glyphs used for European digits (U+0030 - U+0039). Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Stats: Version 2.03 has 395 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, zz01) |
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Riwaj
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(Riwaj.ttf) Note: Contains no European digits (U+0030 - U+0039). Source: Free download from the Hifazat e Quran site. Stats: Version 1.1 has 581 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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Scheherazade
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(ScheherazadeRegOT.ttf) Source: Free download from SIL International's Arabic script Unicode font page. Stats: Version 1.0rc1 build 117/117 has 1,197 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Parkari, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek; Also includes letters in the "Arabic Supplement" block), Latin OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, Kurdish, Sindhi, Urdu) |
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Simple Bold Jut Out
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(spbldjut.ttf) Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Stats: Version 2.03 has 395 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, zz01) |
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Simple Indust fonts
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Fonts shown:
Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, zz01) |
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Simple Outline Pat
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(spoutpat.ttf) Source: Free download of the Arabic font pack from Microsoft (arafonts.exe). Click the download button (marked تحميل) to the left of the filename. Stats: Version 2.03 has 395 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, zz01) |
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Tahoma
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(tahoma.ttf and tahomabd.ttf) Source: Comes with Microsoft's Windows XP and Windows 2000. Stats: Version 3.14 has 2,034 glyphs and 674 kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Cyrillic (Russian plus other Slavic and non-Slavic languages), Greek (including polytonic), Hebrew, Latin, Thai, Vietnamese OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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Times New Roman
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(times.ttf, timesbd.ttf, timesbi.ttf and timesi.ttf) Source: Supplied with the Windows XP SP2 (service pack 2) update. Older versions were supplied with various Microsoft products and the Smart package of Microsoft's core fonts project. Stats: Version 3.00 has 1,674 glyphs and 867 kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Ajami, Azeri, Balochi, Berber, Brahui, Kazakh, Kirghiz Kurdish, Lahnda, Jawi, Pashto, Persian, Shahmukhi, Sindhi, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek), Cyrillic (Russian plus other Slavic and non-Slavic languages), Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Vietnamese. Warning: Versions prior to 3.00 supported only the Arabic letters used for Arabic and Persian languages. OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic (default, MAR) |
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Urdu Naskh Asiatype
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(asunaskh.ttf) Note: Uses Urdu style glyphs for Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669). Contains no European (U+0030 - U+0039) nor Eastern Arabic-Indic (U+06F0 - U+06F9) digits. Source: Free download from UrduLife. Stats: Version 2.3 Jan2002 has 306 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian, Shahmukhi, Urdu) OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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This page was last updated on 2005-06-08