Noto Naskh Arabic

Noto Naskh Arabic is a free text family in Google’s Noto collection. Its variable weight range of 400–700 offers a compact set of choices for Arabic reading text and multilingual publishing.

Keep the exact family name in your specification

This package supplies version 2.021 of Noto Naskh Arabic. It does not include Noto Naskh Arabic UI, which Google Fonts describes separately for application and website interfaces. Check the complete family name when exchanging a design file or replacing a font in an existing product.

When comparing Arabic fonts for book publishing, do not assume Noto’s different Arabic families share line breaks or metrics. Make a test document with the headings, text blocks and footnotes the publication actually uses, then export it through the intended production software.

Variable original, four preview positions

The original TTF has one wght axis from 400 to 700, defaulting to 400. The preview offers 400, 500, 600 and 700 as prepared positions. The ZIP contains one original variable file, so a compatible application can also use weights between those positions.

This file has no width or slant axis and no separate italic is included. Decide how quotations and emphasis should work before laying out a long publication rather than relying on a synthesized slant.

Test language content and marking

The supplied font covers Arabic, Latin, Persian and Urdu. For Arabic educational materials, build a test sample containing the letters, vowel marks, numerals and mixed punctuation your lessons require. Inspect both shaping and line spacing at the final text size, including smaller exercise labels.

The built-in Latin is a starting point for bilingual text. If the publication uses another Latin serif, compare apparent size and paragraph color. Matching numerical point sizes is not enough to balance the scripts.

Compare Naskh alternatives

Try Amiri for another book-oriented Naskh voice, Scheherazade New for a different text design, and Lateef for a family with a South Asian design background. Compare a complete page and note any changes in line length or page depth before switching the working font.

For another Naskh drawing, compare a printed paragraph in Layla BasicArabic. It supplies a single Regular 400 file, whereas Noto Naskh Arabic offers variable weight. Layla has no GPOS positioning table, so include the marked words your document uses and inspect their placement in the final export.

License and files

The original variable TTF and SIL Open Font License 1.1 are included in the ZIP. Personal and commercial use, embedding and redistribution are allowed under its terms. Retain the license with redistributed files; selling the font on its own is prohibited.

See the Google Fonts source, browse other Naskh fonts and prepare an initial sample with the Arabic keyboard. Our guide to choosing an Arabic font provides a broader testing framework.