Free baybayin fonts you can download and type with today
Baybayin is an ancient Philippine script that has been enjoying a sort of revival in recent years. Thanks to the work of passionate designers, artists, and researchers, there are now many free baybayin fonts online that make it easier for people to learn and bring back the script.
Below is a list of free baybayin fonts, grouped into three styles – handwritten or calligraphic, smooth & thin, and thick & bold. Find a font that best fits your project, whether it’s for digital art, a school project, or any other creative expression.
Handwritten or calligraphic baybayin fonts
Baybayin Modern Round by Norman de los Santos aka Nordenx
Possibly some of the first baybayin fonts accessible on the internet have been created by Norman de los Santos aka Nordenx. His earliest baybayin typefaces were created in 2006. Baybayin Modern Round is one of these initial typefaces and features dynamic lines with round ends or serifs, which I found unique from other baybayin fonts found online. This says a lot about this baybayin font because it is almost 20 years old.
Download it here (create a free Deviant Art account first)
Haraya Baybayin by Trini de Guzman
Haraya Baybayin by Trini de Guzman comes in 3 different font weights: regular, bold, and chunky. Not many baybayin fonts come in different fonts or styles, which helps Trini’s typeface stick out. She is a Filipina graphic designer based in the UK and has kept in touch with her roots by designing this one-of-a-kind baybayin typeface. It is the only typeface in my opinion that has achieved a marker or thick pen aesthetic without looking as if a default pen or marker tool was used in an app.
Kodigo Baybayin Display by John Misael Villanueva
This typeface is probably the most interesting and innovative baybayin typefaces I’ve seen. You can type in baybayin, as well as in a Latin font as well. And if you type in uppercase letters, a thick display font in latin appears with the baybayin equivalent of what you’re typing on top of it. It is truly an innovative way to type in baybayin while typing in Latin characters at the same time. This font is great for those who want to explore baybayin and want to learn how to type with it, but it’s also great for graphic designers and artists who want to use it for posters and other projects featuring baybayin or Filipino culture.
Smooth & thin baybayin fonts
Baybayin Modern Mono by Norman de los Santos aka Nordenx
This is another font created by Norman de los Santos aka Nordenx above in 2007. His Baybayin Modern Mono was made with the intent to provide a font that could be used for modern art. Nordenx is a Filipino-American graphic designer and Philippine script font developer who has done presentations on baybayin all over the world.
Download it here (create a free Deviant Art account first)
Bay Sans Regular by Pep de Jesus
Inspired by the Nanum Gothic typeface used for Korean characters, Bay Sans Regular was created by Pep de Jesus. The typeface portrays smooth curves and straight lines, capped by clean ends with slightly rounded corners. Each character is narrower than most baybayin fonts, which can be difficult to design as baybayin characters are more comfortably written or designed wide and short, making this typeface unique.
Niwang Uno by Albert Balbutin Jr. (me!)
This is a selfish plug highlighting my first baybayin font. I also used it to show people how to use and type baybayin here, along with a companion baybayin translator tool here. I wanted to create my own baybayin font that I could use immediately anytime for my art, while learning the basics of typeface design. Niwang Uno is the result of this, with the word “niwang” a Bisaya word for thin.
Thick & bold baybayin fonts
Baybayin Neue is a variable font, meaning that it comes with different font weights and style variants. Typefaces that have bold, italic, and thin options are favored by most people, especially graphic designers and artists who want a typeface that is flexible for different materials, outputs, or themes. John’s font has 8 font weights and 8 italic style variants for a total of 16 fonts under Baybayin Neue as of this writing. The amount of time and effort John invested in the typeface is all thanks to supporters on a Kickstarter campaign he created to produce the font.
Tess Typeface by Hexer Jan Daya
Tess Typeface is a variable typeface by designer Hexer Jan Daya. It has 9 weights, but not only that, Hexer has specified the baybayin version their typeface uses. Tess follows the Pares Baybayin 32 (PB32) version or system – or baybayin with 32 characters. They also specify that it can be used for baybayin 17 (B17) and baybayin 18+ (B18+) versions. Baybayin versions simply refer to which set of baybayin characters a baybayin typeface is using. B17 for example uses the original 17 baybayin characters used before the Spanish period without kudlits. B18+ separated the Ra and Da characters, making it 18 characters. For more about the different versions, see the end of this post.
Baybayin Deko by Lloyd Zapanta
Lloyd Zapanta is a prolific baybayin font designer, with at least 10 typefaces designed so far. This one is special with a classic look and feel, super thick strokes with tapered ends that look like a professional sign-maker with a large brush made them. It also comes with numbers and a just as great-looking italic font. It’s perfect for headlines and titles on posters, book covers… you name it.
A few notes about the baybayin typefaces above
- When typing in baybayin you type in a Filipino language, not in English. Typing “salamat” (thank you) will give you these 4 baybayin characters = SA, LA, MA, and T.
- Be sure to read any documentation or instructions provided by each designer. Different fonts may require a certain way of typing. Some fonts can be typed in a Filipino language directly, and will adjust the characters automatically (like my baybayin translator here). Others may require typing either in upper case or lower case to show certain characters. Simply check the documentation, or experiment by typing right away.
- Three baybayin fonts above (Baybayin Neue, Tess, and Haraya Baybayin) come in different font weights, which means they can also be considered as smooth & thin as well as thick & bold baybayin typefaces.
- A “font” is actually one specific style or variation in a set of fonts called a “typeface.” An example of a font is Arial Bold, and another could be Arial Italic. Most baybayin typefaces only come in one font, as designing typefaces with multiple styles or variants can take a long time – a long labor of love for just one font.
- A “typeface” is a design of letters, numbers, and other symbols used in printing or digital screens, typically composed of multiple variations or “fonts”. Sometimes called a “font family.” An example is the Arial typeface, with fonts within it that are Arial bold or Arial italic. There are a few baybayin typefaces or font families, like the few listed above!
What do B17, B17+, and PB32 mean when writing in Baybayin?
Baybayin practitioners and enthusiasts use baybayin versions to help determine which baybayin character sets they prefer to use. It is also used to show which baybayin characters a certain typeface is using. Hexer’s Tess typeface for example uses PB32, but it is also good for B17 and B18+.
But what do these version numbers mean? Here are a few listed below:
- B17: This character set refers to the original “Baybayin 17” or 17 characters without kudlits. 3 vowels (A, E/I, O/U) and 14 consonants (Ba, Ka, Da/Ra, Ga, Ha, La, Ma, Na, Nga, Pa, Sa, Ta, Wa, Ya). Though the number may refer to the 17 characters ending in “a”, it also includes the 14 “o/u” consonants and 14 “e/i” consonants for a total number of 45.
- B18: The above set, plus one more separating Da and Ra.
- B17+ and B18+: The above sets, but now with vowel cancelling kudlits (B, K, D, R, G, H, L, M, N, Ng, P, S, T, W, Y).
There are a few more Baybayin versions, and probably more to be added in the future. Read more about other Baybayin versions from LuffyKudō here and Yohnardo on Reddit here.
Test drive your Baybayin words with my Baybayin translator here.