An open-source pixel font covering Latin and CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) characters, in a sans-serif gothic style.
4.8K+9 this week101HTMLMITWell maintainedUpdated yesterday
lxgw/LxgwWenKai
An open-source Chinese typeface in a regular-script (kaiti) style, derived from Fontworks' Klee One, with Simplified and Traditional Chinese glyphs.
- Stars
- 26,855
- Forks
- 655
- Open issues
- 5
- Last commit
- 14 hours ago
What is it?
LXGW WenKai is a free Chinese font with a regular-script (kaiti) look, built by extending Klee One, a Japanese open-source typeface from Fontworks. The author filled in common Simplified and Traditional Chinese characters that Klee One lacked, and the family now covers Simplified, Traditional, Japanese and Korean characters across three weights.
The font suits reading-oriented typesetting such as poetry, classical texts, and annotations, and the author notes it is less suited to long body text. It supports Unicode Variation Sequences for choosing punctuation widths and alternate stroke forms. Source builds run through make on Unix-like systems with Python 3.
The project publishes several variants: a Screen version for Android font replacement, a Lite version with fewer rarely used characters for embedding in software, a GB version following G-source glyph conventions, and a TC version with traditional glyph forms.
Key features
- 01Regular-script (kaiti) style derived from Klee One's SemiBold weight.
- 02Covers common Simplified and Traditional Chinese, plus Korean Hangul syllables.
- 03Three weights in the font family.
- 04Supports Unicode Variation Sequences for punctuation and stroke variants.
- 05Distributed as TTF and available through Homebrew and Scoop.
Use cases
- Typesetting poetry, classical Chinese texts, or annotations in a calligraphic style.
- Embedding a free-to-use Chinese font in a desktop or mobile app (Lite version).
- Replacing system fonts on certain Android phones without root (Screen version).
- Using a traditional-form variant for Traditional Chinese readers (TC version).
Quick start
- 1
Download the TTF files from the GitHub Releases page
- 2
On macOS with Homebrew installed, install the font
brew install font-lxgw-wenkai - 3
On Windows with Scoop installed, install the font
scoop bucket add nerd-fonts && scoop install LXGWWenKai
Things to know
- The author says the glyphs are rough in places, with some outline artifacts in Medium and Light weights.
- Derivative fonts cannot use the reserved names 霞鹜, 落霞孤鹜 or LXGW without written permission.
- Building from source works only on Unix-like systems and requires Python 3.
Topics
FAQ
- What is LxgwWenKai?
- An open-source Chinese typeface in a regular-script (kaiti) style, derived from Fontworks' Klee One, with Simplified and Traditional Chinese glyphs. LXGW WenKai is a free Chinese font with a regular-script (kaiti) look, built by extending Klee One, a Japanese open-source typeface from Fontworks. The author filled in common Simplified and Traditional Chinese characters that Klee One lacked, and the family now covers Simplified, Traditional, Japanese and Korean characters across three weights.
- Is LxgwWenKai free to use? What license does it have?
- LxgwWenKai is open source under the OFL-1.1 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
- Is LxgwWenKai still maintained?
- Actively maintained. The last commit to LxgwWenKai was on Nov 7, 2026.
- What can I use LxgwWenKai for?
- Typesetting poetry, classical Chinese texts, or annotations in a calligraphic style. Embedding a free-to-use Chinese font in a desktop or mobile app (Lite version). Replacing system fonts on certain Android phones without root (Screen version). Using a traditional-form variant for Traditional Chinese readers (TC version).
- How do I install LxgwWenKai?
- Download the TTF files from the GitHub Releases page On macOS with Homebrew installed, install the font: brew install font-lxgw-wenkai On Windows with Scoop installed, install the font: scoop bucket add nerd-fonts && scoop install LXGWWenKai
- Where can I get LxgwWenKai?
- The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/lxgw/LxgwWenKai
Summary generated by AI from the project's README. GitHub stats refresh daily.
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