Live preview: Roboto font
Live preview of Roboto, a free font under the SIL Open Font License.
Roboto: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789
If you use an Android phone, you have already read thousands of words in the Roboto font. Google made it the system font for Android, and today it also shows up on websites, apps, school slides and office reports.
Type in the preview above to see a Roboto font sample with your own text. Then read on to learn its story, the different members of the family, the safe free download and when Roboto is (and is not) the right pick.
The Story Behind the Roboto Font
Roboto was developed by Google and designed by Christian Robertson. It became the system font of Android starting with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in 2011, replacing the older Droid fonts. Since then it has been used across many Google products and in Material Design, Google's design system for apps.
The letters mix straight, slightly mechanical lines with open, friendly curves. That is why the Roboto font style feels modern and tidy without looking cold. It reads well at small sizes on phone screens, which was the whole point.
Roboto was free and open source from the start. It was first shared under the Apache licence and is now offered under the SIL Open Font License on Google Fonts. Either way you can use it for free in personal and commercial work.
Roboto Font Family: Condensed, Slab, Mono and More
"Roboto" is not just one font. The wider set of Roboto fonts includes several related families that share the same DNA:
| Family | Look | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Roboto | Standard sans serif | Apps, websites, documents |
| Roboto Condensed font | Narrower letters | Tables, menus, headlines in tight space |
| Roboto Slab font | Block-like serifs added | Headings, posters, magazine titles |
| Roboto Mono font | Every letter the same width | Code, terminal text, data |
Google has also released Roboto Flex and Roboto Serif for designers who want even more control. Inside the main family, weights go from Thin to Black with italics. The Roboto regular font is for body text, Medium for buttons and labels, and the Roboto bold font for headings.
Roboto Font Free Download: Where to Get It
To download Roboto font safely, go to the official Roboto page on Google Fonts and click the download button. That single zip is your Roboto font family free download, with every weight, so you do not need a separate Roboto regular font free download or Roboto bold font free download from another site.
The Roboto font download is free and needs no account. Roboto Condensed, Roboto Slab and Roboto Mono each have their own Google Fonts page. Search their names on fonts.google.com for the Roboto condensed font free download or Roboto slab font free download.
Already on Android? The font is built into your phone, but you cannot easily copy it out from there. Use Google Fonts when you need the files on a computer.
How to Install and Use Roboto
- Unzip the download on your computer.
- Windows: select the .ttf files, right-click and choose Install. Mac: open them in Font Book and click Install.
- Restart Word, PowerPoint or Photoshop and choose Roboto from the font list.
- In Canva, Roboto is already in the font menu, so just search for it.
- On a website, add the Google Fonts embed code and use
font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif;.
Roboto covers Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters. For Hindi, Android uses separate Noto fonts, and on a computer you can pair Roboto with Noto Sans Devanagari, also free on Google Fonts.
Roboto Font CSS: Use Roboto on a Website
Google Roboto font is free to use on any website. Google Fonts was once called Google Web Fonts, so "Google web fonts Roboto" guides show the same method. The easiest Roboto font CSS setup has two steps:
- On the Roboto page at Google Fonts, click Get font, then Get embed code. Pick the weights you need and paste the link into your page head. It is a stylesheet link that loads from fonts.googleapis.com.
- Add the Roboto font in CSS:
body { font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif; }
Load only the weights you use so the page stays fast. You can also download the files and self-host them with @font-face. If you only need a CSS Roboto font for Android-like UI, the system font stack can also pick up Roboto on Android phones by itself.
Roboto font weights: the classic set is Thin (100), Light (300), Regular (400), Medium (500), Bold (700) and Black (900), each with an italic. The newer variable version covers every weight in between. Roboto thin font and Roboto light font suit big headings, while the Roboto black font is for heavy titles.
When to Choose Roboto (and When Not To)
Good choice: app mockups, dashboards, reports, presentations and any project that should feel like Android or Google. It is neutral, very readable and free.
Maybe skip it: when you want your brand to stand out. Because it is everywhere, Roboto can feel generic in a logo. For a bolder personality try Montserrat or Poppins. For a modern UI feel with a taller x-height, compare it with Inter. Other fonts similar to Roboto include Open Sans, Lato and Noto Sans, all free on Google Fonts. Want a Roboto font generator for a game or Instagram name? Real fonts do not paste into apps, so use our font generator for copy-paste Unicode styles instead.
Common questions
Is Roboto free for commercial use?
Yes. Roboto is open source and free for personal and commercial projects. It is available on Google Fonts under the SIL Open Font License.
Who designed the Roboto font?
Roboto was developed by Google and designed by Christian Robertson. It became Android's system font with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
What is the difference between Roboto and Roboto Condensed?
Roboto Condensed uses narrower letters, so more text fits on a line. It is handy for headlines, menus and tables where space is tight.
When should I use Roboto Mono?
Use Roboto Mono for code, numbers in tables or anything where each character should take the same width. It matches the look of regular Roboto.
Is Roboto the same as Arial or Helvetica?
No. They are all sans serifs and look similar from a distance, but Roboto has its own shapes and is free, while Arial and Helvetica are licensed fonts.
Does Roboto come with Windows?
Roboto is not a standard Windows system font, so you may need to install it. Download it free from Google Fonts and install the .ttf files.