YouTube font. 6 free fonts in its lettering style.
For YouTube lettering, start with Roboto at weight 500 (YouTube’s interface font).
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Chosen by eye · sans serif
Roboto
YouTube
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Among the 6 YouTube picks: the widest and the lightest ink.
Roboto: 9 weights, italics; YouTube set here at 500.
- ✓Web
- ✓Logo
- ✓Selling
- OFL 1.1
What people make with YouTube lettering
YouTube lettering is mostly needed for thumbnails, channel banners and end screens. Roboto is the YouTube interface font and free; Oswald at weight 600 is the narrow, bold pick for a thumbnail headline. Roboto Condensed at weight 700 keeps the shapes of Roboto in less width, so a long YouTube title fits a thumbnail. Oswald reworks Alternate Gothic, the face the YouTube wordmark was long drawn from, and Archivo Narrow at weight 700 is narrow and sturdy for YouTube end-screen text.
The type behind YouTube
The YouTube wordmark was long a modified Alternate Gothic, a paid typeface (condensed grotesque sans serif, 1903), redrawn for screens.
YouTube picks, measured
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| Font | Why | Set at | Nearest pick | Width | x-height | Ink | Contrast | Weights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roboto | YouTube’s interface font | 500 | no measure | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 9 |
| Oswald | Alternate Gothic, reworked | 600 | Roboto Condensed, 65 | −20% | +9.4% | +20% | +11% | 6 |
| Roboto Condensed | Roboto, narrow and bold | 700 | Archivo Narrow, 84 | −12% | 0% | +3.2% | −4.3% | 9 |
| Archivo Narrow | Narrow and sturdy | 700 | Roboto Condensed, 84 | −19% | −0.4% | +4.6% | −3.4% | 4 |
| Cossette Titre | lab score 80 to Archivo Narrow | 700 | Archivo Narrow, 80 | −26% | +14% | +8.8% | −35% | 2 |
| Special Gothic Condensed One | lab score 88 to Oswald | 400 | Oswald, 88 | −24% | −3.7% | +37% | +7.4% | 1 |
Can I use the YouTube fonts for…
| Free font | Personal | Selling | Logo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roboto | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Oswald | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Roboto Condensed | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Archivo Narrow | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cossette Titre | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Special Gothic Condensed One | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
- Roboto, Oswald, Roboto Condensed, Archivo Narrow, Cossette Titre, and Special Gothic Condensed One are under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.
Trademark
Free fonts, yes; the YouTube name and logo, no: a thumbnail headline, a channel name or an end screen for yourself is fine, merchandise needs the owner’s permission.
YouTube is a trademark of its owner; these are free fonts in a similar lettering style, not the original lettering.
YouTube font questions
What font does YouTube use?
The YouTube wordmark was long a modified Alternate Gothic, a paid typeface (condensed grotesque sans serif, 1903), redrawn for screens. First free pick here: Roboto at weight 500 (YouTube’s interface font).
Is there a free YouTube font?
Not the YouTube lettering itself; in its style, under open licences: Roboto, Oswald, Roboto Condensed, Archivo Narrow, Cossette Titre, and Special Gothic Condensed One.
Which YouTube font is the boldest, and which the narrowest?
Special Gothic Condensed One has the heaviest ink of the 6 YouTube picks, 37% darker than Roboto; Cossette Titre is the narrowest, 26% narrower than Roboto.
Which YouTube font reads best at small sizes?
Cossette Titre, with an x-height 18% taller than Special Gothic Condensed One; most weights: Roboto, 9.
How were the YouTube fonts chosen?
4 of 6 chosen by eye: Roboto, Oswald, Roboto Condensed, and Archivo Narrow. Cossette Titre and Special Gothic Condensed One: added for YouTube by our lab’s scores, 80 or more against two picks.