Sans serif · Designer not listed
CMU Bright
Find the font. Find its kind.
CSSfont-family: 'CMU Bright', sans-serif; font-weight: 500; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.1;
CMU Bright is a free sans serif, from CTAN. Among the 697 sans serifs on FontKind, CMU Bright has an x-height shorter than 86%, is narrower than 75% and, at its regular weight, is lighter than 92%. Its thickest strokes are 1.3 times its thinnest: nearly even strokes.
01 / Light table
Laid on top of CMU Sans Serif
CMU Bright on one light table with its two closest fonts, CMU Sans Serif (100 out of 100) and Zen Kaku Gothic New (85). CMU Sans Serif is 25% heavier, with an x-height 6% shorter; Zen Kaku Gothic New is 5% wider, with less stroke contrast.
CMU Bright and CMU Sans Serif laid on top of each other.
Ink shared with CMU BrightCMU Sans Serif…
Most different letters first; the figure is the share of ink the fonts have in common. Where the fonts agree the letters cancel to black: every white sliver is a real difference.
02 / Letters
The CMU Bright alphabet
Capitals, lowercase, figures and signs · weight 500
Tap the letters you like, here and in other fonts, to find the fonts whose letters look most like them.
- &
- ?
- !
- @
- %
- (
- )
03 / Weights
CMU Bright in 3 weights
3 weights, 500–700, with italics
- 500 Medium, with its italic
- 600 Semibold, with its italic
- 700 Bold, with its italic
04 / Facts
Can you use CMU Bright?
- Designer
- Not listed
- Kind
- Sans serif
- Styles
- 3 weights, 500–700, with italics
- From
- CTAN
- Character sets
- latin, latin-ext
- Licence
- SIL Open Font License 1.1
Can I use it?
- Commercial use
- Yes.
- Logos
- Yes.
- Websites and apps
- Yes. Self-hosted.
- PDFs and documents
- Yes.
- Changes
- Yes, under another name. Not as “Computer Modern Unicode fonts”: the licence reserves the name.
- Sharing the files
- Yes, but not for sale. With the licence.
CMU Bright is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. This is a plain summary, not legal advice: the licence itself decides.
Already in your apps?
- Google Docs
- Not verified. Docs adds Google Fonts, and CMU Bright comes from CTAN. Google’s guide
- Word, PowerPoint
- Not verified. Install it from CTAN first. Microsoft’s list
- Figma
- Not verified. Search its font menu, or install it. Figma’s help
- Canva
- Not verified. Search its font menu for CMU Bright, or upload it with Canva Pro. Canva’s help
- Cricut
- Once installed. Design Space lists CMU Bright under System. Fonts for Cricut →
From each app’s own font list or help pages.
05 / Measurements
CMU Bright, measured
Taken from the font file's own outlines, regular style
- x-height
- 47.2% of the emlowercase x
- Cap height
- 69.5% of the emcapitals
- x / cap
- 0.68lowercase against capitals
- Width
- 46.4% of the emaverage lowercase
- Ink
- 33%letter box filled
- Contrast
- 1.25 : 1nearly even strokes
Where it stands among sans serifs
Ranked against all 697 sans serifs on FontKind
x-heightSmaller than 86% of sans serifs
WidthNarrower than 75% of sans serifs
InkLighter than 92% of sans serifs
ContrastMore contrast than 70% of sans serifs
06 / Similar fonts
Fonts similar to CMU Bright
Matched letter by letter · its own family apart
- CMU Sans Serif10025% heavier · x-height 6% shorter
- Zen Kaku Gothic New855% wider · less stroke contrast
- Cabinet Grotesk786% heavier · 3% wider
- Panamera787% wider · more stroke contrast
- Raleway7513% wider · x-height 10% taller
- Gothic A174x-height 11% taller · 8% wider · 15% heavier
All 100 fonts similar to CMU Bright →Compare side by side →Get CMU Bright on CTAN
07 / Swap
Swap CMU Bright without a jump
Running text within 3% of the width, x-height within 5%
- Cabinet Grotesk78same text width · x-height 1.7% taller
- Tajawal73text 1.2% narrower · x-height 3.8% shorter
- Quattrocento Sans71text 1.3% wider · x-height 2.5% shorter
- Lil Grotesk71text 0.6% wider · same x-height
- Didact Gothic70text 0.9% narrower · x-height 0.9% shorter
- Cambay67text 2.7% wider · x-height 1.7% taller
Fallback while it loads
Until CMU Bright loads, this sets Arial in its place at 96.7% of its size, so running text keeps CMU Bright’s width and lines keep their height: nothing moves when it arrives.
@font-face {
font-family: 'CMU Bright Fallback';
src: local('Arial');
size-adjust: 96.71%;
ascent-override: 92.75%;
descent-override: 27.30%;
line-gap-override: 20.68%;
}
font-family: 'CMU Bright', 'CMU Bright Fallback', sans-serif;08 / Questions
Questions about CMU Bright
Answered from its licence, CTAN and each app’s own font list
Is CMU Bright free for commercial use?
Yes. CMU Bright is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 , which allows commercial use at any scale, logos, websites, apps and PDFs included; a changed version may not be called “Computer Modern Unicode fonts”.
How do I download and install CMU Bright?
CMU Bright comes free from CTAN . Download it from its page there and unzip the file. On Windows or a Mac, double-click each TTF or OTF file and choose Install, then restart any app that was open. The web fonts this page uses are FontKind’s own copy, kept with its licence file .
Is CMU Bright in Google Docs?
Probably not: the More fonts list in Docs draws on Google Fonts, and CMU Bright comes from CTAN. Docs can’t add a font of your own, so set it in an app on your computer, such as Word, instead.
How many weights does CMU Bright have?
CMU Bright comes in three weights: Medium (500), SemiBold (600) and Bold (700), each with an italic.
What fonts are similar to CMU Bright?
The closest in our letter-by-letter match are CMU Sans Serif (100), Zen Kaku Gothic New (85) and Cabinet Grotesk (78), out of 100. Next to CMU Bright, CMU Sans Serif is 25% heavier, with an x-height 6% shorter. See all 100 fonts like CMU Bright.