Condensed fonts for headlines
Narrow sans-serif and serif display fonts that set tall, compact headlines in limited width, from hairline to heavy.
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A headline has a fixed width to fill, whether it is a newspaper column, a phone screen or a banner, and it usually has more words than the space would like. Condensed type is the standard answer. By narrowing each letter, it lets you raise the point size, so the line stands taller and darker without running over.
Condensed designs differ in how far they go and in how they are built. Mildly condensed families remain comfortable for a sentence-length heading in mixed case. Extra-condensed and compressed faces are meant for a few words in capitals, where their verticals line up like a fence. Structure matters as well: flat-sided letters with straight verticals pack tightly and look industrial, while condensed designs that keep round bowls are easier to read. Check the weight on offer. Many classics of the genre exist in one heavy style, which is fine for a title; a family with light and medium weights gives you subheadings and captions in the same voice.
Give condensed capitals a little extra letter spacing at small sizes, and tighten them at large ones. For narrow fonts intended for tables and running text, see the separate collection.
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Oswald
A condensed gothic redrawn for the screen pixel grid, with slim vertical counters and a weight axis from ExtraLight to Bold.
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Bebas Neue
Capitals only, tall and tight with uniform strokes, so every headline sets as a compact block of even height.
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Roboto Condensed
Straight-sided, closely spaced letters in nine weights with italics, enough range for headline, subheading and caption in one narrow family.
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Smooch Sans
Very narrow, box-shaped letters that set words as even stripes, on a weight axis from Thin to Black.
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Instrument Serif
A condensed, high-contrast serif drawn for large sizes, the narrow alternative to a sans headline, in Regular and Italic only.
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Share Tech
Tall, narrow letters with flattened, straight-sided curves and a tall lowercase, in a single Regular weight.
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Anton
Very heavy strokes packed into narrow letters with slit-like counters, adapted from an advertising sans for web headlines.
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League Gothic
A tall, heavy gothic that revives an early American condensed design, with a width axis that squeezes it further.
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Fjalla One
Tall, tightly condensed letters with heavy stems and straight-sided rounds, adjusted for screens, in one heavy style.
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Big Shoulders
A condensed gothic made for the Chicago Design System, from Thin to Black, with an optical size axis.
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Mohave
First drawn as a capitals-only titling face: narrow, straight-sided letters on a weight axis from Light to Bold, with italics.
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Sofia Sans Extra Condensed
The narrowest width of its system, with upright stems and softly rounded corners, in nine weights with italics.
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Fira Sans Extra Condensed
A humanist sans squeezed to its narrowest width while keeping open apertures, in nine weights with italics.
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Pathway Gothic One
A strongly compressed grotesque whose tall lowercase keeps mixed-case headlines compact, in one book weight.
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BenchNine
Narrow, upright letters in Light, Regular and Bold, with softened corners that echo the ink spread of woodcut type.
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Jockey One
A dense, narrow headline sans with squared counters and angled stroke cuts.
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Voltaire
A condensed, low-contrast sans in one weight, modeled on the lettering of 20th-century Swedish posters.
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Abel
A narrow, flat-sided sans in one light weight, modeled on condensed newspaper and poster headline faces.
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Economica
A very condensed sans in Regular and Bold with italics, drawn to fit more text into a line while keeping the letters tall.
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Six Caps
Capitals several times taller than they are wide, in one weight, for a few words at very large sizes.
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Wire One
A hairline condensed monoline sans for tall, airy headlines.
Samples load a basic Latin subset of each family. Every family here carries an open license; its page states the terms and offers the original files.
Questions about condensed fonts for headlines
When should I use a condensed font?
When a heading must fit a limited width at a large size, or when you want a tall, compact texture. For long passages of text a normal width is easier to read.
Should condensed headlines be in capitals?
Very narrow faces often look most even in capitals. Moderately condensed families read well in mixed case, which is easier for longer headlines.
Are these condensed fonts free for commercial use?
Yes. Every family listed here is under the SIL Open Font License, which allows commercial use in print and on screen, embedding and modification. The fonts may not be sold on their own.