Fonts for subtitles and video captions
Plain, sturdy sans-serif families for subtitles and captions, chosen for clear letters at small sizes and, in most cases, wide language coverage.
I didn't see that coming.
Subtitles are text with a deadline. A line stays on screen for two or three seconds, over moving pictures, and the viewer's attention belongs to the image. The typeface has to be read almost without being looked at.
That calls for the plainest letterforms available: a sans serif with even strokes, open apertures and unambiguous shapes. Letters that are easily confused, such as capital I and lowercase l, or rn and m at small sizes, cause real stumbles when there is no time to re-read. A medium or semibold weight usually works better than regular, because light strokes break up against bright or busy footage; that makes a family with intermediate weights valuable. Slightly narrow proportions help as well, since a subtitle line is limited to around 40 characters and a wide face forces more line breaks.
Coverage is the other half. Translated subtitles need every accented letter of the target languages, and often Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew or Arabic, in the same design. The notes below state which scripts each family's record lists. Burned-in captions for social video follow the same rules at larger sizes.
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Roboto
Latin, Cyrillic and Greek in nine weights, with a width axis for long lines.
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Noto Sans
Even strokes, open shapes and a tall lowercase with Latin, Cyrillic, Greek and Devanagari in one family; nine weights and a width axis that narrows long lines.
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Open Sans
Open forms with Cyrillic, Greek and Hebrew, variable in weight and width.
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Arimo
Plain, upright letters of nearly even stroke for Latin, Greek, Cyrillic and Hebrew; Medium and SemiBold sit between Regular and Bold.
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Roboto Condensed
A narrow sans that fits more words per line, with nine weights, italics, Cyrillic and Greek.
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Fira Sans
Tuned for legibility on phone screens of varying quality; nine weights with italics.
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Rubik
Slightly rounded corners with Latin, Cyrillic, Hebrew and Arabic in one family.
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Google Sans
Nearly uniform strokes and 7,525 glyphs in 25 subsets, among them Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Thai and Devanagari; four weights from Regular to Bold with italics.
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Atkinson Hyperlegible
Deliberately distinct letter shapes made for readers with low vision, in Regular and Bold with italics.
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Overpass
Derived from highway sign lettering and adapted for screens, in nine weights with italics.
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Archivo Narrow
Condensed without being squeezed, with a tall lowercase, so more text fits a line; four weights from Regular to Bold with italics, Latin only.
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Barlow Semi Condensed
A little narrower than normal, with open counters and figures that stay easy to tell apart; nine weights with italics, Latin only.
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 fonts for subtitles and video captions
What weight should subtitles use?
A medium or semibold is a common choice, because regular weights can thin out over bright footage. Add a soft shadow or a translucent box behind the text before reaching for a heavier weight.
Can I burn these fonts into a video I publish commercially?
Yes. Open licenses allow commercial use and place no restriction on video or images made with the font.
Why do some characters show as boxes in my subtitles?
The font lacks those characters and the player has no fallback. Choose a family whose record lists the script or language you need, and test with a real translated file.