At a glance. This Helvetica font generator makes Helvetica-style text two ways. Copy and paste gives 7 Unicode looks that go into a bio, caption or name. Real fonts is a picture studio. It draws your text in the Helvetica your device has, or in one of 8 free look-alike fonts, at weights from Light to Black, with 16 style presets, effects, shadows, borders, backgrounds and a console window, and saves PNG, JPG, WebP, SVG or PDF, with a transparent background if you want one. It also writes the CSS. Helvetica itself is a commercial font and is not included, and copied text cannot carry a font.
How to use the Helvetica font generator
Your text and the options sit at the top, with a quick result under the text. Below, Copy and paste lists every look, Real fonts is the picture studio, CSS gives the code, and Checks tests your device and the length.
Type your text
A name, a headline or a short caption of up to four lines. Case follows the Letter case option.
Pick text or picture
Copy and paste gives 7 Unicode looks for bios, captions and names. Real fonts is a picture studio that draws the text in a real font.
Choose a font and weight
Use the Helvetica your device has, or one of 8 free look-alikes. Set the weight from Light to Black, then the size, spacing, colours, glow, shadow, border and background, or start from one of 16 style presets.
Copy or download
Copy a look and paste it, download the picture as PNG, JPG, WebP, SVG or PDF (PNG can be transparent), or copy the CSS. Checks tests your device and the length.
Which output should you pick?
- A bio, caption, comment or name: copy and paste. The result is text, so it can be selected, searched and kept in an edit box.
- A poster, slide, thumbnail or social graphic: the picture from Real fonts. It uses a real font, so it looks the same for everyone.
- A website or an app: the CSS. It sets the same font, weight, colour, glow, shadow, border and spacing in your own stylesheet.
For plain sans-serif letters that are not tied to Helvetica, see the sans-serif font generator (opens in a new tab).
Is this real Helvetica?
Not the copy and paste part, and not the open fonts. Helvetica was drawn in 1957 at the Haas type foundry in Switzerland by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann (Wikipedia (opens in a new tab)) and is now sold by Monotype under licence (Helvetica Now (opens in a new tab), the Helvetica family (opens in a new tab)). This site does not host it.
A font is a file stored on a device. Text is a string of character codes, and the app that shows it picks a font from what the device has. When you copy text, only the codes travel. So "copy and paste Helvetica" has two honest answers: paste look-alike characters that exist in the Unicode standard, or paste a picture. This page offers both, and says which is which.
The one place you can get the real thing is the first font on the Real fonts tab. It draws the Helvetica your own device has, and an Apple device has it. A Windows computer draws Arial in its place.
The copy and paste looks
Four looks use the sans-serif letters of the Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols (opens in a new tab) block: clean (regular), bold, oblique (italic) and bold oblique. Your device draws them in its own neutral sans-serif, so the shapes depend on the device. Small caps uses Phonetic Extensions (opens in a new tab) and IPA Extensions (opens in a new tab). X has no small capital, so it stays a plain x. Spaced letters and Spaced bold put one space between letters and three between words, as Swiss posters often do.
Every look says which Helvetica face it is closest to, whether it has numbers, and whether some sites undo it. For the letter styles on their own, see the bold text generator (opens in a new tab) and the sans-serif italic generator (opens in a new tab).
Light, Neue and Bold
Unicode has regular, bold, italic and bold italic sans-serif letters, and no more. That is why the copy and paste looks stop at bold and oblique. There is no light, medium or black, and no Neue, in pasted text.
The Real fonts tab has five quick weights: Light (300), Regular (400), Medium (500), Bold (700) and Black (900). The open fonts also have a fine slider, so you can set 650 if you like. Arimo and Instrument Sans only have 400 to 700, so the weights outside that are greyed out for them. The other six open fonts run from 100 to 900. The Helvetica on your device draws the weight it has, or the nearest one, and a device with only Regular and Bold shows the nearest of the two.
The real fonts
The 8 open fonts are Arimo, Inter, Public Sans, Albert Sans, Hanken Grotesk, Work Sans, Archivo, Instrument Sans. All are under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 (opens in a new tab), obtained through Fontsource (opens in a new tab) from Google Fonts (opens in a new tab). Each is one variable font (opens in a new tab)file hosted on this site as a Latin subset and loaded with the FontFace API (opens in a new tab) only when you pick it. A Latin subset covers English and most Western European text. Other alphabets are not promised.
The picture is drawn on a canvas and saved with the browser's own canvas export (opens in a new tab)as a PNG, JPG or WebP. PNG keeps transparency. The SVG is vector markup, and an open font's file is placed inside it so it looks the same anywhere. The device font has no file to place, so its SVG only names the Helvetica stack. The PDF holds the finished picture. Many browsers cannot make a canvas of more than about 16.7 million pixels, and the page warns you when your size and resolution go over that.
The studio has eight design tabs. Fonts sets the typeface, weight, size, spacing, tilt and a small line of text under the main words. Effects adds colour, gradient, outline, glow, CRT scanlines, VHS RGB-split and glitch slices. Shadows and Borders add depth and frames. Backgrounds sets colour, pattern, dark edges, film grain, a repeated background word and the canvas size, including platform sizes. Console draws a terminal window. Symbols adds characters such as © and é to your text. Export downloads one picture, a ZIP of several sizes or several texts, copies CSS, HTML or React, and saves your looks as a file. You can keep up to eight looks as My looks on your device. In the SVG, glow, shadow, scanlines, grain and dark edges are close approximations of the preview, and glitch slices are left out.
Helvetica or Arial
Arial (opens in a new tab) was made to have the same letter widths as Helvetica, so text set in one breaks in the same places as in the other. The shapes differ in small ways. Look at c, e, s and t: in Helvetica the ends are cut horizontally, and in Arial they are cut at an angle. The capital R has an upright leg in Helvetica and a slanted one in Arial, and the capital G has a spur in Helvetica.
That is why Arimo, which has the same widths as Arial, is a safe stand-in when a layout must not move, and why the Checks tab cannot tell Helvetica from Arial on Windows by their widths.
CSS and the font stack
The CSS tab writes a rule from your studio settings: font, weight, colour or gradient, outline, glow, shadow, border, spacing, case and tilt. Effects CSS cannot draw, such as scanlines, grain and patterns, are listed in comments in the rule. For the Helvetica on your device it adds no file. The stack is "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Liberation Sans", Arimo, sans-serif, as a font-family (opens in a new tab) list: the browser uses the first one the device has. Apple devices have the first two. Windows answers Helvetica with Arial. Many Linux systems have Liberation Sans, which is made to match Arial. Arimo only applies if you host it yourself.
For an open font the rule includes an @font-face block and a note on where to get the file. You host the file on your own server. The licence allows it.
When a look turns back into plain letters
Unicode defines normalisation forms (opens in a new tab). The compatibility form NFKC replaces many look-alike characters with the ordinary ones they are based on. If a site applies it, the sans looks become plain. Small caps and spaced capitals are not changed. The tool checks that claim for every look in its tests rather than assuming it, and the chip on each row shows the result.
Length and counting
The mathematical letters are outside the Basic Multilingual Plane, so each is two UTF-16 units. Small capitals are one. That is what the length of a JavaScript string (opens in a new tab) counts, and some sites count that way. The tool counts characters or UTF-16 units, and compares the result with a limit you choose. Apps count in different ways and limits change, so confirm in the app.
What to keep as plain text
- Hashtags, usernames, email addresses and links. Styled letters make them a different string.
- Anything people search for. A search for the plain word may not find styled text.
- Anything that must be accessible. Screen readers may skip styled letters or read each by its Unicode name.
- A picture of text. Add the words as alt text or in the caption.
- Your own website. Use real text and a real font, with the CSS tab, not pasted look-alikes.
Checks gives a plain copy to paste next to a styled one.
Licence
Helvetica is a commercial typeface, and its name is a trademark of its owners. This site does not distribute it and does not claim to. The 8 open fonts are under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 (opens in a new tab), which allows use in a logo, a poster or a video, including commercial work, and does not allow selling the font file by itself. Each family keeps its designer's copyright. The Specimen link on the Real fonts tab opens the family on Google Fonts.
Privacy
Everything is worked out in your browser. Your text is not uploaded or saved. Your options and My looks are kept in your browser storage, and nothing leaves your device.
Frequently asked questions
Can I copy and paste the real Helvetica font?
No. A font is a file on a device, and copied text carries only the characters, so no website can paste Helvetica into a bio or a comment. What does paste is look-alike Unicode letters, which this tool gives you as 7 looks. Your device draws them in its own sans-serif, so the result looks neutral and clean, but it is not Helvetica. For the real typeface, use a licensed copy in a design app, or make a picture with the Real fonts tab.
Is Helvetica free to use?
No. Helvetica is a commercial typeface, and Monotype sells it under licence, including the current Helvetica Now. A copy ships with Apple's operating systems, which is why it shows on a Mac or iPhone, but having it on a device does not by itself give you the right to put the font file on a website or in an app. This site does not host Helvetica. If you need it for a brand, a website or a product, buy the licence that matches the use.
Which Unicode look is closest to Helvetica Bold?
Bold sans, which uses the Mathematical Sans-Serif Bold letters. Your device picks the font, so the exact shapes differ: most phones and computers draw it in a neutral grotesque that is close in feel to Helvetica Bold, but it is not the same typeface. Clean sans is the closest to regular Helvetica, and Oblique sans is the closest to Helvetica Oblique.
Is there a Helvetica Light or Helvetica Neue in the copy and paste looks?
No, and none can exist. Unicode has sans-serif letters in regular, bold, italic and bold italic only. It has no light, medium or black, and no Neue. For a light or black weight, use the Real fonts tab, where the weight runs from Light to Black. The first font there draws the Helvetica your device has, so on a Mac it can give you Helvetica Neue in several weights.
Why does the Helvetica option look like Arial on my computer?
Because Windows computers do not normally have Helvetica, and a request for Helvetica is answered with Arial. In our test on a Windows computer, a page that asked for Helvetica got exactly the letter widths of Arial, and Helvetica Neue was not found at all. Apple devices have both. The Checks tab shows what your device does. If you want the same result on every device, pick Arimo or another open font on the Real fonts tab.
What is the difference between Helvetica and Arial?
Arial was drawn by Monotype to have the same letter widths as Helvetica, so lines of text break in the same places, but the shapes differ in small ways. The ends of letters such as c, e, s and t are cut horizontally in Helvetica and at an angle in Arial. The leg of the capital R is upright in Helvetica and slanted in Arial, and the capital G has a spur in Helvetica. Look at those letters to tell them apart.
Which free fonts look most like Helvetica?
Arimo is the safest choice for layout, since it has the same letter widths as Arial, and so as Helvetica. Inter, Public Sans, Albert Sans, Hanken Grotesk, Work Sans, Archivo and Instrument Sans are neutral sans-serif fonts that many designers use in its place. All 8 are under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. None is a copy of Helvetica, so compare them with your eyes at the size you will use.
Can I use the picture on a website or in a logo?
A picture made with an open font can be used in your own work, including commercial work, under the SIL Open Font License. A picture made with the first font, the Helvetica on your device, uses a font you do not own the right to redistribute, so check the licence that came with it before you use it in a logo or a product. Your own text on a plain background is yours either way, and a logo should be your own artwork.
Does the copy and paste text work on Instagram, TikTok, X or Discord?
Usually, but test it in the app. These looks are ordinary Unicode characters, so most apps keep them. Each app draws them with its own fonts, and some sites normalise text and turn them back into plain letters. Small caps and Spaced letters survive that, and the rows say which looks do not. Apps change their rules, and we have not tested every one.
Why do numbers or accents look different in some looks?
Oblique sans and Bold oblique sans have no numbers in the Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols block, so digits stay as typed. Accented letters and other alphabets have no look-alike in these blocks, so they also stay as typed, which can make a line look uneven. The Real fonts tab draws accented Latin letters in every font, but other alphabets are not promised.
Is a hashtag or a username safe to style?
No. A hashtag or a handle in styled letters is a different string from the plain one, so it will not join the same feed, tag the same person or be found by search. The tool warns you when your text has a hashtag, an @ or a link. It only warns.
Is my text uploaded?
No. Everything is worked out in your browser, including the pictures. Your options and My looks are kept in your browser storage. Your text is not saved.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Helvetica (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia, Arial (opens in a new tab)
- Monotype, Helvetica Now (opens in a new tab)
- MyFonts, the Helvetica family sold by Monotype (opens in a new tab)
- Unicode chart, Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols (U+1D400) (opens in a new tab)
- Unicode chart, Phonetic Extensions (U+1D00) (opens in a new tab)
- Unicode chart, IPA Extensions (U+0250) (opens in a new tab)
- Unicode Standard Annex #15, Normalization Forms (opens in a new tab)
- MDN, String length (UTF-16 code units) (opens in a new tab)
- MDN, font-family (opens in a new tab)
- MDN, Variable fonts guide (opens in a new tab)
- MDN, FontFace (opens in a new tab)
- MDN, HTMLCanvasElement.toBlob() (opens in a new tab)
- SIL Open Font License 1.1 (opens in a new tab)
- Fontsource, font catalogue and licences (opens in a new tab)
The Some sites undo it and Survives normalising chips are checked against NFKC in our tests. How an app or a device draws a character is not something we can test everywhere, and apps change what they accept. The open fonts are look-alikes, not copies of Helvetica.
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