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Persian Script
Persian script is an adaptation of Arabic script. It has been adapted to write many additional languages. There's a separate page for Urdu script was adapted from Persian.
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.
Persian
The Persian/Farsi language is used in parts of Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and a large number of other countries. All of the fonts on this page will, at a minimum, support Persian/Farsi.
Azeri, Kazakh, Kirghiz, and Uzbek
All of these languages have used Persian script, the Cyrillic alphabet, and the Latin alphabet at some point.
Depending on geographic location, Persian script with added letters is still used.
Assume the fonts shown here do not support a given language unless it is specifically noted along with Arabic script in the Support line.
Tajiki and Dari
It appears that no additional letters are required for these languages.
| font sample * | font information |
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Andalus
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(andlso.ttf) Source: Comes with Microsoft's Windows XP and Windows 2000. Stats: Version 1.01 has 458 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian), Latin 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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A_Nefel_Botan
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(A_Nefel_Botan.ttf) Note: Uses Persian style digits for Arabic-Indic digits (U+0660 - U+0669). Source: Click on the "Dakişîne" link for the free download of a_nefel_font.exe, which will install the A_Nefel fonts. Note that the installer seems to ignore your choice of directories. Stats: Version 2.0, 2002 has 536 glyphs and 383 kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian), Latin OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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A_Nefel_Serek fonts
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Fonts shown:
Source: Click on the "Dakişîne" link for the free download of a_nefel_font.exe, which will install the A_Nefel fonts. Note that the installer seems to ignore your choice of directories. Stats: Version 1.01 has 487 glyphs and 615 kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian), Latin OpenType Layout Tables: Arabic |
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B Arshia
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(BArshia.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Badr
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(BBadr.ttf and BBadrBd.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Compset
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(BCompsBd.ttf and BCompset.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Elham
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(BElham.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Farnaz
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(BFarnaz.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Ferdosi
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(BFerdosi.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Homa
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(BHoma.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Jadid
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(BJadidBd.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Kamran fonts
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Fonts shown:
Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Koodak fonts
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Fonts shown:
Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Lotus
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(BLotus.ttf and BLotusBd.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Mitra
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(BMitra.ttf and BMitraBd.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Nazanin fonts
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Fonts shown:
Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Roya
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(BRoya.ttf and BRoyaBd.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Sina
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(BSinaBd.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Tabassom
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(BTabssom.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Titr
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(BTitrBd.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Traffic
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(BTraffic.ttf and BTrafcBd.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Yagut
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(BYagut.ttf and BYagutBd.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Yekan
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(BYekan.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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B Zar
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(BZar.ttf and BZarBd.ttf) Note: Persian glyphs for Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (U+06F0 - U+06F9) are also used for European (U+0030 - U+0039) and Arabic-Indic (U+0660 - U+0669) digits. Source: Free download from Borna Rayaneh. They also post additional fonts as "fonts of the month". Stats: Version 2.01 has 221 glyphs and no kerning pairs Support: Arabic script (Arabic, Persian) |
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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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This page was last updated on 2006-05-26