Noto Nastaliq Urdu — Free Arabic Google Font
Noto Nastaliq Urdu is Google's take on the cursive, hanging-baseline Nastaliq style most associated with Urdu (and Persian) rather than standard Arabic-language text. It's the right choice specifically when a project needs authentic Nastaliq shaping, not a substitute for Naskh or Kufi Arabic fonts.
About Noto Nastaliq Urdu
Noto Nastaliq Urdu is the Nastaliq member of Google's Noto collection, added to Google Fonts in 2020. Google describes it as a cursive, modulated design for Arabic-script text, especially in the Urdu language, with 1,138 glyphs. Nastaliq is the sloping, hanging style traditionally used for Urdu and Persian, and its stacked letter shapes make it one of the most demanding scripts for a font to render.
Designer: Google
Best used for
- Urdu-language content
- Persian/Farsi Nastaliq text
- Poetry and literary typesetting
How Noto Nastaliq Urdu compares
Unlike Noto Naskh Arabic, which sits on a flat baseline, Noto Nastaliq Urdu lets words slope down and stack, so it takes more vertical space. Compared with Mirza, a Naskh face designed with Persian readers in mind, it gives you the genuine Nasta'liq look that Urdu readers expect. Choose it whenever the language is Urdu; for Arabic-language text, a Naskh family is the convention.
Tips for using Noto Nastaliq Urdu
Use it for Urdu text, poetry and anything meant to feel South Asian or Persian and literary. Allow much more line height than you would for Naskh, because stacked, descending words collide at normal spacing. It is a poor fit for standard Arabic-language interfaces; keep it for content where Nasta'liq is the convention.
Styles & weights
4 weights, self-hosted:
- 400 — Regular Download .ttf
- 500 — Medium Download .ttf
- 600 — SemiBold Download .ttf
- 700 — Bold Download .ttf
Arabic character preview
ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ه و ي
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم — مرحبا بالعالم — ٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩
Download Noto Nastaliq Urdu
Using Noto Nastaliq Urdu on the web
Load it from the Google Fonts CDN:
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Noto+Nastaliq+Urdu:wght@400;500;600;700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">Then reference it in your CSS:
font-family: "Noto Nastaliq Urdu", sans-serif;License
Licensed under the SIL Open Font License — free for personal and commercial use. What the OFL allows →