Work with fonts
This guide helps you choose and prepare fonts so your text renders correctly in finished adaptations. It is for template builders who use custom or non-standard fonts, or who work with languages beyond basic Latin text.
When the platform renders an adaptation, it draws each character from the font you chose, and it does not fall back to another font for characters your font does not include. A font must therefore contain a glyph for every character you use: a missing glyph can render incorrectly, or fail the render.
Choose a font that covers your text
Before you use a font in a template, confirm it covers every character you need.
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Check that the font includes glyphs for the language or script in your text, including any accented or special characters.
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Check case coverage, because some fonts support a language in only lower case or only upper case, so text in the other case renders with the wrong shapes.
To inspect a font’s glyphs, open the font file in a tool such as FontDrop, or review the font on Google Fonts.
Prepare a custom font
When you supply your own font, prepare the file so the platform reads it correctly.
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Use a supported font file: a single-font file works, but a TrueType Collection (
.ttc) is not supported. -
Give the font correct, unique family-name metadata, because the platform reads a font’s name from its metadata; a wrong or duplicated name makes the font appear under the wrong name, or twice, in the font list.
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Supply a clean, uncorrupted file, and re-download the font if it fails to load.
Troubleshooting
Each problem below is a common font issue. Select one to see how to fix it.
Problem: Some characters are missing or render as the wrong shapes.
Solution: the font does not include glyphs for those characters. Check the font’s coverage for your language, script, and letter case, then add the glyphs or switch to a font that covers them.
Understanding languages and scripts explains how scripts and glyphs work.
Problem: A custom font appears under the wrong name, or twice, in the font list.
Solution: the font’s metadata carries the wrong or a duplicated family name. Correct the family-name metadata in the font file, then re-upload it.
Problem: Helvetica renders incorrectly, especially special characters.
Solution: macOS and Windows ship different Helvetica files, and the rendering environment runs on Windows, so a macOS-only variant can mismatch.
On macOS, installing the font may prompt you that multiple copies are installed; resolve the duplicates manually and keep the correct version. For Helvetica Neue specifically, replace it with Roboto, or split the family into separate font files and install each one.
Problem: The font looks different from your design, or a bold weight is not applied.
Solution: text effects applied in a design tool, such as a faux bold or a specific anti-aliasing setting, are not carried into the render. Use a font that includes the weight you want, such as a Semibold, rather than applying an effect.
Some difference from your on-screen preview is also normal. Understanding rendering and output explains why the preview and the render can differ.
Problem: Thai text fails to render.
Solution: this is a known Adobe After Effects problem, not a platform one, and it can stop a render completing.
For Thai text that renders but with the wrong spacing, which is a different problem, see the After Effects troubleshooting guide.