# What Font Does TikTok Use? TikTok Sans, Caption Fonts and Text Styles

> TikTok uses TikTok Sans, its own open-source typeface, for the app and text on videos. Where to download it, the in-app text styles, and fonts for your bio and captions.

Canonical: https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/what-font-does-tiktok-use
Last updated: 2026-10-28

Category: TikTok. 

TikTok uses **TikTok Sans**, its own custom typeface. TikTok introduced it in May 2023, designed with the Swiss type foundry Grilli Type, and it now runs through the whole app: menus, captions, and the default text you add on top of videos. In July 2025 TikTok released TikTok Sans as an open-source font under the SIL Open Font License, so you can download it and use it in your own designs.

Before TikTok Sans, the app used **Proxima Nova**. If you're matching an older screenshot or a template made before 2023, that's the font you're looking at.

## Where TikTok Sans shows up

| Place | Font |
| --- | --- |
| App interface, buttons and menus | TikTok Sans |
| Default "Classic" text on videos | TikTok Sans |
| Captions under videos | TikTok Sans (your device may substitute a system font) |
| Auto-captions | TikTok Sans |
| TikTok logo wordmark | A custom logotype, not a font you can type |

The quickest way to tell TikTok Sans apart from Proxima Nova is the zero: TikTok Sans has a slashed **0**, so it doesn't get mixed up with the letter O.

## How to get TikTok Sans

TikTok publishes the font in its official GitHub repository (tiktok/TikTokSans), and it's also on Google Fonts. It's a variable font with weight, width, slant and optical size axes, and covers Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts. Skip third-party "free font download" sites. Because it's under the SIL Open Font License, you can use it for free in personal and commercial work, including thumbnails, ads and slides. You can't sell the font itself.

To match TikTok's look in Canva, CapCut or Figma, install TikTok Sans or pick it from the font list if the app already includes it.

## The text styles inside TikTok

When you tap **Aa** (Text) in the TikTok editor, you'll see a handful of font styles. Names change between versions, but they usually include:

- **Classic**: TikTok Sans, the default
- **Typewriter**: a monospaced style
- **Handwriting**: a script style
- **Neon**: a glowing outline effect
- **Serif**: a book-style serif

Tap the **A** with a box to add a background behind the text, and the color circles to change color. Text added in the editor is burned into the video, so pick the style before you export.

## Fancy fonts in your TikTok bio and captions

TikTok doesn't let you change the font of your bio, username or caption. The "fonts" you see in other people's bios are Unicode characters: letters from mathematical and special symbol sets that look like bold, italic or script text and can be pasted anywhere.

Our free [TikTok font generator](https://scheduleforyou.com/tools/tiktok-font-generator) turns plain text into those styles so you can copy and paste them into your bio or caption. Keep it to a word or two. Screen readers read many of these characters letter by letter or skip them, and search doesn't always match them, so keep your name and key words in plain text. For bio ideas, try the [TikTok bio generator](https://scheduleforyou.com/tools/tiktok-bio-generator).

If you write captions ahead of time, you can paste styled text into a scheduled post the same way. Schedule For You publishes the caption exactly as you write it, up to 2,200 characters, TikTok's limit for posts sent through its API ([more on TikTok caption limits](https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/tiktok-caption-character-limit)).

## Frequently asked questions

### What font are TikTok captions in?
Captions use TikTok Sans in the app. On some devices or browsers, your system's default sans-serif font may stand in.

### Is TikTok Sans free to use commercially?
Yes. It's released under the SIL Open Font License, which allows commercial use in designs and videos. You can't sell the font file itself.

### What font did TikTok use before 2023?
Proxima Nova, a commercial font by Mark Simonson. It's not free, so most people who want the old look use a similar free sans-serif instead.

### Can I change the font of my TikTok username?
Not with a setting. You can paste Unicode-styled text into your display name, but your @username only accepts letters, numbers, underscores and periods.

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