Free Font Metadata Viewer — Check Font Family, License & Glyphs

A font file is more than visual data — it contains a rich set of metadata describing the font's identity, licensing terms, character coverage, and creator information. This data is invisible when you use the font in a document, but it answers critical questions: Can I use this commercially? Who designed it? What languages does it support? How many characters does it include?

Our free font metadata viewer extracts and displays every metadata field from any font file. Drop in a TTF, OTF, WOFF, or WOFF2 file and instantly see the family name, license, glyph count, Unicode ranges, version, designer, and more. No installation, no signup, everything runs in your browser.

What Font Metadata Contains

Font files store metadata in internal name tables. Here are the key fields and why each matters:

Field	What It Contains	Why It Matters
Font Family	The family name (e.g., "Inter")	How software identifies and groups font variants
Style Name	Regular, Bold, Italic, etc.	Confirms which weight/style this file represents
Version	Version number (e.g., 4.0)	Ensures you have the latest release with bug fixes
Copyright	Copyright holder and year	Identifies legal ownership
License	License type and URL	Determines if commercial use is allowed
Designer	Font designer's name	Attribution requirements, finding more fonts by same designer
Glyph Count	Total number of characters	Indicates language coverage and feature breadth
Unicode Ranges	Supported character blocks	Shows which scripts and languages are covered

Additional fields may include: vendor ID, trademark notice, description, sample text, embedding permissions (whether the font can be embedded in PDFs or documents), and supported code pages.

License Checking — Avoiding Legal Problems

Font licensing is where most people get into trouble. Using a font without the proper license can result in legal action, especially in commercial contexts. The metadata license field is your first line of defense:

Open source licenses (free for commercial use):

• SIL Open Font License (OFL): The most common free font license. Allows commercial use, modification, and redistribution. Only restriction: you cannot sell the font itself.
• Apache License 2.0: Full commercial use, modification, and redistribution rights. Used by Google Fonts.
• MIT License: Very permissive — commercial use, modification, distribution with minimal restrictions.

Restricted licenses (check before using):

• "Personal use only": Cannot be used in commercial projects without purchasing a license.
• Desktop license: May cover print but not web embedding — check specific terms.
• Web license: Allows web embedding but may limit pageviews or domains.
• App license: Required for embedding fonts in mobile or desktop applications.

If the license field is empty, do not assume the font is free. Contact the designer or foundry. Many free font download sites redistribute commercial fonts without authorization — the metadata reveals the truth.

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Glyph Count and Language Support

Glyph count is one of the most practical metadata fields. It tells you the breadth of character coverage:

• 200-400 glyphs: Basic Latin coverage only. Suitable for English and limited Western European languages. May be missing currency symbols, ligatures, or special characters.
• 400-800 glyphs: Extended Latin with good Western and Central European support. Covers most accented characters for French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and similar languages.
• 800-2,000 glyphs: Comprehensive Latin plus additional scripts like Cyrillic (Russian) or Greek. Often includes ligatures, small caps, and stylistic alternates.
• 2,000+ glyphs: Professional-grade font with extensive language support, OpenType features, and typographic extras. Suitable for international projects.

The Unicode ranges field gives even more detail — it lists exactly which character blocks are supported. Look for "Latin Extended-A" and "Latin Extended-B" for European languages, "Cyrillic" for Russian and related languages, and "Greek and Coptic" for Greek.

Designer Credits and Foundry Information

Font metadata often includes designer and foundry names, which serve several practical purposes beyond simple attribution:

• Finding related fonts: If you love a font, checking the designer name lets you find their other typefaces. Many designers maintain a consistent aesthetic across their work.
• Quality indicators: Fonts from established foundries (Adobe, Monotype, Google, Hoefler) tend to have better kerning, hinting, and character coverage than random free fonts.
• Support and updates: When a font has rendering issues or missing characters, the designer/foundry name tells you who to contact for fixes or updated versions.
• Attribution requirements: Some licenses require crediting the designer. The metadata contains the exact attribution string they specified.

The version field is also useful here — font designers regularly fix kerning pairs, add characters, and improve rendering in new versions. If your version is 1.0 and the current release is 3.2, updating could solve issues you did not even know you had.

Frequently Asked Questions

What information is stored in font metadata?

Font metadata includes the font family name, style name (Regular, Bold, Italic), version number, designer and foundry name, copyright notice, license type and URL, description, supported Unicode ranges, glyph count, creation and modification dates, and embedding permissions. This information is stored in internal tables within the font file and is not visible when you simply use the font.

How do I check if a font is free for commercial use?

Check the license field in the font metadata. Common free-for-commercial-use licenses include SIL Open Font License (OFL), Apache License 2.0, and MIT License. If the license field says "For personal use only" or references a commercial license purchase, you need to buy a license before using it in commercial projects. When the license field is empty or unclear, contact the font designer or foundry directly.

What does glyph count tell me about a font?

Glyph count indicates how many individual characters and symbols the font contains. A basic Latin font might have 200-300 glyphs. A comprehensive font with extended language support, ligatures, and alternates can have 1,000-5,000+ glyphs. Higher glyph counts generally mean broader language support and more typographic features, but also larger file sizes. For web use, you can subset to include only the glyphs you need.