The license for fonts, not code. Free to embed and change, with rules about selling fonts alone and renaming changed fonts that carry a Reserved Font Name.
On this page
What it does
The SIL Open Font License 1.1 covers typefaces rather than program code, which is why it reads differently from the licenses around it. It lets you use a font in any document or product, embed it in an app or a PDF, and change it. You may charge for the product it ships inside. Two conditions have no equivalent in a code license. A font under it may not be sold on its own. A changed font may not keep a Reserved Font Name, which is a name the original designer sets aside in the font's copyright header. Inter, Fira and most of Google Fonts arrive this way.
Details
A font travels further through a product than most dependencies. The same file ends up in a web bundle, a mobile app, a PDF export and a design kit, and the license follows every copy. Serving the font from your own domain in a hosted product is ordinary practice. The moment you hand the font file to somebody, in an app bundle or an export, the OFL text has to go with it. Any change you made to the font has to stay under the OFL as well. SIL treats subsetting, which strips out the glyphs you do not use, as a change, even though large font services subset without renaming.
Pros
- Easy to drop into a closed, paid product. Procurement has seen this family hundreds of times.
- No copyleft on your own files. You keep your source private.
Cons
- The notice duty is easy to miss in a desktop, mobile, or container build. A web page is not a substitute for notices inside the artifact.
- Buyers who want an express patent grant will ask you to prefer Apache-2.0 over a short MIT-style text.
What it allows and requires
Choose a category to see the full grant in one scannable list. Permissions show what the license allows, limits show what it withholds, and obligations show the conditions your release process must satisfy.
Permissions
Commercial use
Commercial use is allowed. CC-BY and OFL do not ban selling a product that includes the work.
Modify
You may adapt the work, within the license's share-alike or non-commercial limits if those apply.
Distribute
You may share copies of the original and, where allowed, of your adaptations.
Limits
Hold liable
The authors disclaim warranty. Recipients cannot hold them liable for damages arising from the software, except where law forbids that disclaimer.
Use trademark
The license is not a trademark license. Names, logos and product marks stay with their owners unless a separate grant says otherwise.
Sell the font alone
OFL forbids selling the font software standalone. Bundling it in an app or a document is allowed.
Obligations
Give credit
Give the credit the license asks for, in a reasonable manner, without implying endorsement.
Same license
The font, including derivatives, stays under the OFL. You cannot sell the font by itself. Embedding in software is the intended path.
Reserved Font Name
A modified font may not keep a Reserved Font Name declared in the original copyright header. Subsetting counts as a modification.
What OFL-1.1 requires when you ship
When a copy that includes OFL-1.1 code leaves your company, the grant is broad and the paperwork is easy to miss. Distribution here means an installer, a mobile binary, a container image, or an SDK another team embeds. Work this list against the artifact you actually hand over, not against a README. A hosted service that never gives out a copy still belongs on the record, but the notice duty does not fire until a copy exists.
You meet the OFL when the license text travels with the font files you hand over, in an app bundle, a design kit or an export.
You cover the web case when you keep the OFL text next to the font files you serve. It costs nothing and answers the question before it is asked.
You keep the naming rule when a font declares a Reserved Font Name in its OFL header and you rename any version you changed, including one your build pipeline subsetted. Many fonts declare none.
You stay inside the grant when the font is part of a larger product you sell. Selling the font file on its own is the one sale the license forbids.
You keep a changed font usable for others when you release your version under the OFL as well, which the license requires.
The duties named in OFL-1.1
The license text itself is short. These are the named conditions. They follow the code, including files you vendor into your own repository and transitive packages in the lockfile.
Give credit
Give the credit the license asks for, in a reasonable manner, without implying endorsement.
Same license
The font, including derivatives, stays under the OFL. You cannot sell the font by itself. Embedding in software is the intended path.
Reserved Font Name
A modified font may not keep a Reserved Font Name declared in the original copyright header. Subsetting counts as a modification.
Things to be aware of
- Teams subset a font in the build and keep the original family name. When that name is a Reserved Font Name, rename the subset, because the reserved name cannot survive a change.
- Teams ship the font inside a mobile app and leave the OFL text on the marketing website. The text has to sit inside what you distribute.
- Teams sell a design kit whose whole value is the font files. Bundled inside a larger work is fine; a font product on its own is not.
- Teams take a Google Fonts entry as automatically OFL. Check the release: Roboto, for one, has an Apache-2.0 history.
What the SIL Open Font License 1.1 does not do
Search results often flatten SIL Open Font License 1.1 into a slogan. These are the usual misreads. OFL-1.1 is a grant with conditions, not a permission to skip the paperwork below.
- The SIL Open Font License 1.1 does not require you to publish your application source merely because you embed the font.
- The license does not allow you to sell the font file by itself. It may be sold as part of a larger product.
- It does not let a modified font keep a Reserved Font Name declared by the original author. Check the font header before naming a changed or subsetted build.
How OFL-1.1 differs from nearby licenses
These licenses are often confused with OFL-1.1, but their release duties differ. Each row summarizes what the license requires when you ship. Open the linked page for the full checklist.
- OFL-1.1
- The license for fonts, not code. Free to embed and change, with rules about selling fonts alone and renaming changed fonts that carry a Reserved Font Name.
- CC-BY-4.0
- Credit the creator and you may use the work commercially. The credit may sit anywhere a user can reasonably find it.
- Apache-2.0
- Permissive like MIT, plus an express patent grant. The catch is the NOTICE file: it has to travel inside the binaries you ship.
Common questions about SIL Open Font License 1.1
Answers to common questions about what SIL Open Font License 1.1 requires, when its duties apply, and what evidence belongs with a release.
What is the SIL Open Font License 1.1?
The SIL Open Font License 1.1 covers typefaces rather than program code, which is why it reads differently from the licenses around it. It lets you use a font in any document or product, embed it in an app or a PDF, and change it. You may charge for the product it ships inside. Two conditions have no equivalent in a code license. A font under it may not be sold on its own. A changed font may not keep a Reserved Font Name, which is a name the original designer sets aside in the font's copyright header. Inter, Fira and most of Google Fonts arrive this way.
What does OFL-1.1 require when you ship a product?
You meet the OFL when the license text travels with the font files you hand over, in an app bundle, a design kit or an export. You cover the web case when you keep the OFL text next to the font files you serve. It costs nothing and answers the question before it is asked. You keep the naming rule when a font declares a Reserved Font Name in its OFL header and you rename any version you changed, including one your build pipeline subsetted. Many fonts declare none. You stay inside the grant when the font is part of a larger product you sell. Selling the font file on its own is the one sale the license forbids. You keep a changed font usable for others when you release your version under the OFL as well, which the license requires.
Does OFL-1.1 require me to open my own source?
It does not let a modified font keep a Reserved Font Name declared by the original author. Check the font header before naming a changed or subsetted build.
How do I attribute OFL-1.1 in a product I ship?
Attribution for OFL-1.1 means the copyright line and the license text travel with every copy a recipient actually gets. That can be an about screen, a licenses file inside the installer, or a notice in the container image. A public page helps a buyer audit the inventory. It does not replace notices inside the artifact. If you copied files into your own repository, the header on those files still has to stay.
Is a website notice enough for OFL-1.1?
No. OFL-1.1 talks about copies. A public attestation page is the honest list for procurement. The condition is met when the notices sit in the material you hand over. Put them in the installer, the about screen, or a licenses file inside the binary, then keep the same texts on the page.
Do transitive OFL-1.1 dependencies count?
Yes. The condition follows the code, not the package you chose by name. If the lockfile pulled in OFL-1.1 transitively and you distribute that tree, those notices travel too. Listing only direct dependencies is how teams miss the duty.
How is OFL-1.1 different from Creative Commons Attribution 4.0?
OFL-1.1 asks this: The license for fonts, not code. Free to embed and change, with rules about selling fonts alone and renaming changed fonts that carry a Reserved Font Name. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 asks this: Credit the creator and you may use the work commercially. The credit may sit anywhere a user can reasonably find it. Open the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 page for what that license requires when you ship. Do not treat the SPDX ids as interchangeable because the short names look similar.
Where do I record OFL-1.1 for a buyer?
The catalog marks any identifier starting with OFL- as carrying font terms. SourceTrust therefore puts an OFL font terms item on the project checklist when the project ships binaries or uses a mixed deployment context. A hosted SaaS project does not get that item, because the duty attaches to files you hand over. The item is not ticked for you: a person on your team confirms it, and publishing stays blocked until every applicable item is confirmed.
Where do I record OFL-1.1 for a buyer?
The catalog marks any identifier starting with OFL- as carrying font terms. SourceTrust therefore puts an OFL font terms item on the project checklist when the project ships binaries or uses a mixed deployment context.
A hosted SaaS project does not get that item, because the duty attaches to files you hand over. The item is not ticked for you: a person on your team confirms it, and publishing stays blocked until every applicable item is confirmed.
Read /docs/mobile-app-licenses when the font ships inside an App Store or Google Play build.
See also
The hub is the pillar for this cluster. Sibling licenses are the other spokes. Product FAQ links explain how SourceTrust records the duty, not the license text itself.
Practical guidance for procurement review, not legal advice. Confirm high-stakes use with counsel.