Summary of fonts available across Kindle devices

[Proximanova]

Hello! Decided to create a table of fonts available across various Kindle platforms (excluding the Kindle Fire) for easy reference. Pardon the crude quality of the table, but MobileRead does not have a provision for inserting a table as far as I know. Of course, e-ink Kindles allow for the addition of custom fonts, but not the others.

It can be observed that:

• Amazon Ember (non-bold) is not available on iOS and Android. Only Amazon Ember Bold is available. The only other sans-serif options on these two platforms are Helvetica and Lucida, and personally I do not like either.
• Helvetica Neue Light (which ought to have been added on iOS and Android) is only on the PC app.
• Droid Serif is exclusive to Android.
• Lucida and Georgia are not to be found on e-ink Kindles.

Please let me know if there are any corrections.

[pdurrant]

I suggest adding this in to the wiki, as an editable table.

[Enterio]

I don’t know if you noticed, but Amazon changed the Bookerly font sometime during the last few firmware updates for kindle devices, to include proper OpenType font features—such as real small caps. It seems to be the only “Pro” font included in the collection.

None of the others have real open-type features. Looks like they cheapend out by licensing the non-Pro versions (ie, the “Standard” versions) to their devices.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by Enterio

I don’t know if you noticed, but Amazon changed the Bookerly font sometime during the last few firmware updates for kindle devices, to include proper OpenType font features—such as real small caps. It seems to be the only “Pro” font included in the collection.

None of the others have real open-type features. Looks like they cheapend out by licensing the non-Pro versions (ie, the “Standard” versions) to their devices.

Was this at the same time they wrecked its hinting?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Proximanova

Hello! Decided to create a table of fonts available across various Kindle platforms (excluding the Kindle Fire) for easy reference. Pardon the crude quality of the table, but MobileRead does not have a provision for inserting a table as far as I know. Of course, e-ink Kindles allow for the addition of custom fonts, but not the others.

It can be observed that:

• Amazon Ember (non-bold) is not available on iOS and Android. Only Amazon Ember Bold is available. The only other sans-serif options on these two platforms are Helvetica and Lucida, and personally I do not like either.
• Helvetica Neue Light (which ought to have been added on iOS and Android) is only on the PC app.
• Droid Serif is exclusive to Android.
• Lucida and Georgia are not to be found on e-ink Kindles.

Please let me know if there are any corrections.

Your table is incorrect. There are older Kindles that do not have a new enough firmware to have all the fonts that the current firmware has. The Kindle Touch and older Kindles do not have Bookerly (for example) and other fonts. So you need to redo your table for the different Kindle models.

[Quoth]

@JSWolf is correct.

B009 DXG last firmware very limited compared to B008 Kindle Keyboard last firmware, limited compared to Paperwhite 3 / Gen 7.
Also in selling books we have to assume that people have not added fonts or jailbroken to have better default fonts, even though it's trivial (for people used to configuring computers, not all people) for older Kindles.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

@JSWolf is correct.

B009 DXG last firmware very limited compared to B008 Kindle Keyboard last firmware, limited compared to Paperwhite 3 / Gen 7.
Also in selling books we have to assume that people have not added fonts or jailbroken to have better default fonts, even though it's trivial (for people used to configuring computers, not all people) for older Kindles.

@Proximanova, In order to do it right for everyone, you have to forget any fonts that do not exist past the 1st version Kindle. And if any of the same fonts have been updated with any more characters/glyphs, you have to forget they exist.

This is just like if you are creating a complex layout in KF8, you have to think of Mobi as you do it.

[Proximanova]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

@Proximanova, In order to do it right for everyone, you have to forget any fonts that do not exist past the 1st version Kindle. And if any of the same fonts have been updated with any more characters/glyphs, you have to forget they exist.

This is just like if you are creating a complex layout in KF8, you have to think of Mobi as you do it.

The problem is I only consider those Kindles released in or since 2015 or so, which support fonts like Bookerly and Amazon Ember, which I’m sure Kindle Keyboards and Kindle Touches (and other older Kindles) don’t.

I was astonished to find a great many users of the Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Touch even today (it is apparently a very long-lasting device, longer than most), but I’m afraid I will not be able to update my table with that information, since I do not know about them. Best I can tell they have only Caecilia, Helvetica, Palatino and suchlike.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Proximanova

The problem is I only consider those Kindles released in or since 2015 or so, which support fonts like Bookerly and Amazon Ember, which I’m sure Kindle Keyboards and Kindle Touches (and other older Kindles) don’t.

I was astonished to find a great many users of the Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Touch even today (it is apparently a very long-lasting device, longer than most), but I’m afraid I will not be able to update my table with that information, since I do not know about them. Best I can tell they have only Caecilia, Helvetica, Palatino and suchlike.

You can't just consider 2015 Kindles and later. You have to consider ALL Kindle models. So don't assume that the person reading is using a 2015+ Kindle.

[Proximanova]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You can't just consider 2015 Kindles and later. You have to consider ALL Kindle models. So don't assume that the person reading is using a 2015+ Kindle.

Then please do inform me about the fonts on older Kindles, so I can create a fresh table.

[Quoth]

The last version of the DXG (model B009) firmware has maybe ONE each of serif, sans, mono. Each in normal, bold, italic and bold italic. You can jail break and patch to have a nicer system font. Most owner won't have done that. Only old mobi support (KF7?). Conversely the last FW for 6" keyboard B008, allows Publisher fonts if the book is dual mobi or azw/KF8. I can't remember what else it does as it won't start right now!

[Proximanova]

Updated table with better formatting. Please let me know about further amendments and other older Kindles before 2012 to be supported.

[Proximanova]

Originally Posted by Quoth

The last version of the DXG (model B009) firmware has maybe ONE each of serif, sans, mono. Each in normal, bold, italic and bold italic. You can jail break and patch to have a nicer system font. Most owner won't have done that. Only old mobi support (KF7?). Conversely the last FW for 6" keyboard B008, allows Publisher fonts if the book is dual mobi or azw/KF8. I can't remember what else it does as it won't start right now!

Do all Kindles released before 2012 support one serif and one sans-serif? I believe they support only Caecilia.

[Quoth]

I'd have to recheck. Also unless the ebook is exactly perfect you'd only get Caecilia. I could be wrong, but I thought I saw a mono and sans face.

[tomsem]

If I’m not mistaken, all Kindles from the very first one have a fixed-pitch font as well. This was because O’Reilly pointed out it was necessary to properly display code. It isn’t one you can choose, however, has to be CSS.