A Practical Guide to Font Licensing
The license terms that decide where a brand's typefaces may be used: installed on computers, served on websites, embedded in apps and documents, or used in video and broadcast.
Priya Raghunathan
What is at stake
A font bought for design work is often not licensed for the website or app, and unlicensed use is a legal risk that usually surfaces at the worst time.
The playbook
- List every place brand fonts are used
- Check each license covers those uses and the expected traffic
- Keep license records with the font files
- Choose open-licensed alternatives where budgets are tight
- Review licenses before launching apps or video series
Where it goes wrong
Avoid:
- Uploading desktop font files to a website
- Sharing font files with agencies without checking the license
- Assuming a free download is free for commercial use
- Forgetting that page view limits apply to many web licenses
The numbers behind it
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Licenses by use | desktop, web, app, ebook and broadcast use are often licensed separately |
| Web font format | WOFF2 is the standard compressed format for fonts on the web |
| Serving web fonts | declared with the CSS @font-face rule |
| Adobe Fonts | available for personal and commercial projects under qualifying Creative Cloud plans |
Getting outside help
When to hand it over: Bring in help when choosing brand typefaces, when a font vendor contacts you about usage, or before launching an app or broadcast campaign.
Where this comes from
- Adobe Help Center — Adobe Fonts licensing
- MDN Web Docs — @font-face
- W3C — WOFF File Format 2.0
The figures and practices above come from the sources listed.
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