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Simplified Chinese · Hei (sans serif)黑体

IBM Plex Sans SC

永: 永 · Yǒng, “eternal”: its strokes are the brush’s eight

IBM Plex Sans SC is a free Hei font for Simplified Chinese by IBM, on GitHub. It draws 27,767 Chinese characters, and the English alphabet, in 7 weights, 100–700.

Get it on GitHub Every character

天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒

The opening of the Thousand Character Classic · Regular 400

01 / Characters

Characters of everyday words

The characters Chinese readers learn first, set in IBM Plex Sans SC.

Simplified characters 汉字

Each with its pinyin and meaning

  1. 永yǒng · eternal
  2. 天tiān · sky
  3. 日rì · sun
  4. 月yuè · moon
  5. 山shān · mountain
  6. 水shuǐ · water
  7. 火huǒ · fire
  8. 木mù · tree
  9. 金jīn · gold
  10. 土tǔ · earth
  11. 风fēng · wind
  12. 云yún · cloud
  13. 雨yǔ · rain
  14. 花huā · flower
  15. 春chūn · spring
  16. 人rén · person
  17. 心xīn · heart
  18. 爱ài · love
  19. 梦mèng · dream
  20. 龙lóng · dragon
  21. 马mǎ · horse
  22. 鸟niǎo · bird
  23. 鱼yú · fish
  24. 飞fēi · fly
  25. 门mén · gate
  26. 国guó · country
  27. 东dōng · east
  28. 学xué · learn
  29. 书shū · book
  30. 字zì · character

02 / Text

As running text

The opening of Lu Xun’s My Old Home (1921).

我冒了严寒，回到相隔二千余里，别了二十余年的故乡去。时候既然是深冬；渐近故乡时，天气又阴晦了，冷风吹进船舱中，呜呜的响，从篷隙向外一望，苍黄的天底下，远近横着几个萧索的荒村，没有一些活气。

Set large

我冒了严寒，回到相隔二千余里，别了二十余年的故乡去。时候既然是深冬；渐近故乡时，天气又阴晦了，冷风吹进船舱中，呜呜的响，从篷隙向外一望，苍黄的天底下，远近横着几个萧索的荒村，没有一些活气。

At reading size · 16 px

我冒了严寒，回到相隔二千余里，别了二十余年的故乡去。时候既然是深冬；渐近故乡时，天气又阴晦了，冷风吹进船舱中，呜呜的响，从篷隙向外一望，苍黄的天底下，远近横着几个萧索的荒村，没有一些活气。

Set vertically

03 / Weights

7 weights

100–700

  • Thin · 100天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • ExtraLight · 200天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • Light · 300天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • Regular · 400天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • Medium · 500天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • SemiBold · 600天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
  • Bold · 700天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒

04 / Facts

What it covers

Characters
27,767
More than the 6,763 of GB 2312, the standard set
Set
Simplified
As mainland China and Singapore write
Weights
7
100–700
Vertical text
Yes
Vertical forms of its own, OpenType’s vert
Font file
8.1 MB
Its Regular, from its maker’s repository
Licence
OFL 1.1
Free for commercial use

Designed by IBM and published on GitHub, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

Get it on GitHub Its licence file

LatinIt draws the English alphabet too, as in its name:IBM Plex Sans SC

05 / Hei

More Hei Simplified Chinese fonts

Every Hei font for Simplified Chinese →

All 47 Chinese fonts →The Hei fonts for Traditional Chinese →Japanese, Chinese and Korean fonts →

06 / Questions

Questions about IBM Plex Sans SC

Answered from its licence and its font file

Is IBM Plex Sans SC free for commercial use?

Yes. IBM Plex Sans SC is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 , which allows commercial use at any scale: print, websites, apps, videos and logos, for clients and in products. What it forbids is selling the font file on its own.

How do I download and install IBM Plex Sans SC?

FontKind doesn’t host IBM Plex Sans SC’s files: it comes free from IBM’s repository on GitHub . On its repository there, choose Code, then Download ZIP, and unzip the file. On Windows or a Mac, double-click each font file and choose Install, then restart any app that was open.

Is IBM Plex Sans SC Simplified or Traditional Chinese?

Simplified: IBM Plex Sans SC draws the Simplified forms written in mainland China and Singapore, 27,767 characters in all. For the other set, see the Hei fonts for Traditional Chinese.

How do I use IBM Plex Sans SC on a website?

IBM Plex Sans SC’s font file is large for a web page: 8.1 MB for the Regular file alone. So cut it down to the characters your pages use, a step called subsetting, and serve it as WOFF2: the SIL Open Font License allows that, under a name of your own if the font reserves its name.

Can IBM Plex Sans SC set vertical text?

Yes: IBM Plex Sans SC’s file has vertical forms, the OpenType vert feature, so in a vertical line its commas, full stops and brackets turn and move as they should. On a web page, CSS writing-mode: vertical-rl sets a block vertically; Word, InDesign and Illustrator have vertical text of their own.

Can I use IBM Plex Sans SC in a game or an app?

Yes. The SIL Open Font License lets you build IBM Plex Sans SC into a game, an app or an e-book, sold or free, with no separate licence to buy, as many paid fonts require. Ship its licence with the font files, and don’t sell the font on its own.

How many weights does IBM Plex Sans SC have?

IBM Plex Sans SC comes in seven weights, from Thin (100) to Bold (700).

Does IBM Plex Sans SC have English letters?

Yes: IBM Plex Sans SC draws all 52 letters of the English alphabet, so a line that mixes Chinese and English can stay in one font.

Who designed IBM Plex Sans SC?

IBM Plex Sans SC was designed by IBM.

What fonts are similar to IBM Plex Sans SC?

The most used Simplified Chinese Hei font besides IBM Plex Sans SC is Noto Sans SC. See every Hei font for Simplified Chinese.