Serif · Designer not listed
CMU Concrete
Find the font. Find its kind.
CSSfont-family: 'CMU Concrete', serif; font-weight: 500; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.1;
CMU Concrete is a free serif, from CTAN. Among the 354 serifs on FontKind, CMU Concrete has an x-height shorter than 68%, is narrower than 65% and, at its regular weight, is of average darkness. Its thickest strokes are 1.3 times its thinnest: nearly even strokes.
01 / Light table
Laid on top of Zilla Slab
CMU Concrete on one light table with its two closest fonts, Zilla Slab (82 out of 100) and IBM Plex Serif (80). Zilla Slab has nearly identical proportions; IBM Plex Serif is 10% wider, with an x-height 13% taller and more stroke contrast.
CMU Concrete and Zilla Slab laid on top of each other.
Ink shared with CMU ConcreteZilla Slab…
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 Concrete 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 Concrete in 2 weights
2 weights, 500–700, with italics
- 500 Medium, with its italic
- 700 Bold, with its italic
04 / Facts
Can you use CMU Concrete?
- Designer
- Not listed
- Kind
- Serif
- Styles
- 2 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 Concrete 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 Concrete 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 Concrete, or upload it with Canva Pro. Canva’s help
- Cricut
- Once installed. Design Space lists CMU Concrete under System. Fonts for Cricut →
From each app’s own font list or help pages.
05 / Measurements
CMU Concrete, measured
Taken from the font file's own outlines, regular style
- x-height
- 45.8% of the emlowercase x
- Cap height
- 68.3% of the emcapitals
- x / cap
- 0.67lowercase against capitals
- Width
- 49.1% of the emaverage lowercase
- Ink
- 41%letter box filled
- Contrast
- 1.27 : 1nearly even strokes
Where it stands among serifs
Ranked against all 354 serifs on FontKind
x-heightSmaller than 68% of serifs
WidthNarrower than 65% of serifs
InkNear the middle of serifs
ContrastMore even than 87% of serifs
06 / Similar fonts
Fonts similar to CMU Concrete
Matched letter by letter · its own family apart
- Zilla Slab82Nearly identical proportions
- IBM Plex Serif80x-height 13% taller · more stroke contrast · 10% wider
- Montagu Slab79more stroke contrast · 14% wider · x-height 10% taller
- Brygada 191876more stroke contrast · 8% wider · 7% lighter
- Slabo 27px728% narrower · x-height 5% taller
- Kameron72more stroke contrast · 5% wider · x-height 5% shorter
All 100 fonts similar to CMU Concrete →Compare side by side →Get CMU Concrete on CTAN
07 / Swap
Swap CMU Concrete without a jump
Running text within 3% of the width, x-height within 5%
- Zilla Slab82text 2.2% narrower · x-height 2.8% shorter
- Kameron72same text width · x-height 4.6% shorter
- Sumana64text 0.7% narrower · x-height 0.7% taller
- Cactus Classical Serif52text 1.3% wider · x-height 3.5% taller
- Montaga49text 1.1% narrower · x-height 1.8% taller
- Frank Ruhl Libre48text 1.3% narrower · x-height 2.2% taller
Fallback while it loads
Until CMU Concrete loads, this sets Times New Roman in its place at 110.4% of its size, so running text keeps CMU Concrete’s width and lines keep their height: nothing moves when it arrives.
@font-face {
font-family: 'CMU Concrete Fallback';
src: local('Times New Roman');
size-adjust: 110.42%;
ascent-override: 83.59%;
descent-override: 23.82%;
line-gap-override: 18.11%;
}
font-family: 'CMU Concrete', 'CMU Concrete Fallback', serif;08 / Questions
Questions about CMU Concrete
Answered from its licence, CTAN and each app’s own font list
Is CMU Concrete free for commercial use?
Yes. CMU Concrete 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 Concrete?
CMU Concrete 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 Concrete in Google Docs?
Probably not: the More fonts list in Docs draws on Google Fonts, and CMU Concrete 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 Concrete have?
CMU Concrete comes in two weights: Medium (500) and Bold (700), each with an italic.
What fonts are similar to CMU Concrete?
The closest in our letter-by-letter match are Zilla Slab (82), IBM Plex Serif (80) and Montagu Slab (79), out of 100. Next to CMU Concrete, Zilla Slab has nearly identical proportions. See all 100 fonts like CMU Concrete.