DejaVu Sans
About DejaVu Sans
- Source
- Open Font Library ↗
- Classification
- sans-serif
- Weights
- 400, 700
- Features
- Italics
DejaVu Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface derived from Bitstream Vera Sans, with vastly expanded Unicode coverage. Designed as a metrically compatible alternative to Verdana, it provides comprehensive language support while maintaining the same proportions and screen-optimized design.
History and Design
The DejaVu fonts project began in 2004 to expand Bitstream Vera's limited character set while preserving its design quality. The team added thousands of glyphs covering Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, and many other scripts—all designed to harmonize with the original Vera letterforms.
Like its ancestor, DejaVu Sans features a large x-height, wide letterforms, and open counters optimized for screen legibility. The design ensures clarity at small sizes, making it valuable for user interfaces, terminals, and body text on screens of varying quality.
Why DejaVu Sans Matters
DejaVu Sans solved a critical problem: Verdana's excellent screen legibility was tied to Microsoft's proprietary license and limited character set. DejaVu provided the same benefits with dramatically expanded language support under a free license, enabling use in open-source software, Linux distributions, and projects requiring extensive Unicode coverage.
Many Linux distributions include DejaVu as a default system font, making it one of the most widely deployed open-source typeface families in the world.
Technical Features
- Massive Unicode coverage: Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and more
- Metric compatibility: Nearly identical to Verdana spacing
- Screen optimization: Clear rendering at small sizes
- Comprehensive family: Sans, Serif, and Mono variants available
Best Use Cases
DejaVu Sans excels in:
- Multilingual applications: Extensive script coverage in one font
- Linux and open-source software: Free license compatibility
- Terminal and code displays: Clear monospace variant available
- Web applications: Reliable fallback for diverse content
Usage Tips
Use Regular (400) for body text and Bold (700) for emphasis. DejaVu Sans works best at sizes from 10px to 16px on screen where its optimization shines. For print, consider 9-12pt for body text. The family's comprehensive coverage makes it ideal as a fallback font for multilingual content.
Alternative For (1)
DejaVu Sans is a free alternative to the following premium fonts:
Designed specifically as a Verdana-compatible alternative with extended character set
How to Use DejaVu Sans
Copy these code snippets to quickly add DejaVu Sans to your project.
CSS Import
/* Download from: https://dejavu-fonts.github.io/ */
@font-face {
font-family: "DejaVu Sans";
src: url('/fonts/dejavu-sans.woff2') format('woff2');
font-display: swap;
}HTML Link Tags
<!-- Download from: https://dejavu-fonts.github.io/ -->
<link href="/fonts/dejavu-sans.css" rel="stylesheet">Tailwind CSS
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
fontFamily: {
'dejavu-sans': ['"DejaVu Sans"', 'sans-serif'],
},
},
},
}
// Usage in HTML:
// <p class="font-dejavu-sans">Your text here</p>React / Next.js
// Import the font CSS in your _app.js or layout
import '/fonts/dejavu-sans.css';
export default function Component() {
return (
<p style={{ fontFamily: '"DejaVu Sans"' }}>
Your text here
</p>
);
}