Hindi fonts explained: Unicode, Kruti Dev, APS and Mangal
Hindi typing in India grew up with dozens of fonts, many of which don't work with each other. That is why a file typed in one office can look like nonsense in another. Knowing the difference between Unicode and legacy fonts saves a lot of retyping.
Two families of Hindi fonts
Legacy (non-Unicode) fonts
Kruti Dev, APS DV-Priyanka, Chanakya, DevLys and Walkman-Chanakya are legacy fonts. They were made before computers supported Hindi properly. They draw Hindi shapes on top of English letters, so the text only looks right where that exact font is installed.
Unicode fonts
Mangal, Nirmala UI, Kokila, Aparajita, Utsaah and Noto Sans Devanagari are Unicode fonts. The text inside them is real Devanagari. You can change the font, search it, copy it into any app and it stays Hindi.
A quick test
Copy a word from your document and paste it into Notepad or a WhatsApp chat. If it stays Hindi, it is Unicode. If it turns into letters like fgUnh, it is a legacy font.
Keyboards are a separate question
The keyboard layout decides which key types which letter. The font decides how the letters look and how they are stored.
- Remington (Gail) layout is the old typewriter layout, used with Kruti Dev. Many state typing tests are based on it.
- Inscript is the standard Unicode layout built into Windows, Linux and phones. It is used in central government typing tests such as those for SSC posts, though rules vary by exam.
- Phonetic keyboards (such as Google Indic) let you type "bharat" and get "भारत". They are the easiest to learn but usually not allowed in typing tests.
Windows also offers a "Remington Gail" layout that types Unicode text, so you can keep the keys you know and still produce Unicode Hindi.
Which should you use?
- Preparing for a typing test: practise on the layout and font named in the official notification.
- Office letters, assignments and notes: Unicode (Mangal or Nirmala UI). The file will open correctly on any computer.
- Websites, YouTube descriptions and social media: always Unicode.
- Sending a file to a press: ask which font they use. If they want Kruti Dev or Chanakya, convert at the end.
Converting between them
You don't have to retype. Our free APS & Kruti Dev to Unicode converter converts in both directions in your browser. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see How to convert Kruti Dev text to Unicode.