Skip to main content

Using custom fonts in a Flet app

· 2 min read
Feodor Fitsner

You can now use your own fonts in a Flet app!

The following font formats are supported:

  • .ttc
  • .ttf
  • .otf

Use page.fonts property to import fonts.

Set page.fonts property to a dictionary where key is the font family name to refer that font and the value is the URL of the font file to import:

def main(page: ft.Page):
    page.fonts = {
        "Kanit": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google/fonts/master/ofl/kanit/Kanit-Bold.ttf",
        "Aleo Bold Italic": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google/fonts/master/ofl/aleo/Aleo-BoldItalic.ttf"
    }
    page.update()

    # ...

Font can be imported from external resource by providing an absolute URL or from application assets by providing relative URL and assets_dir.

Specify assets_dir in flet.app() call to set the location of assets that should be available to the application. assets_dir could be a relative to your main.py directory or an absolute path. For example, consider the following program structure:

/assets
   /fonts
       /OpenSans-Regular.ttf
main.py

Code sample​

The following program loads "Kanit" font from GitHub and "Open Sans" from the assets. "Kanit" is set as a default app font and "Open Sans" is used for a specific Text control:

import flet as ft

def main(page: ft.Page):
    page.title = "Custom fonts"

    page.fonts = {
        "Kanit": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google/fonts/master/ofl/kanit/Kanit-Bold.ttf",
        "Open Sans": "fonts/OpenSans-Regular.ttf",
    }

    page.theme = Theme(font_family="Kanit")

    page.add(
        ft.Text("This is rendered with Kanit font"),
        ft.Text("This is Open Sans font example", font_family="Open Sans"),
    )

ft.app(target=main, assets_dir="assets")

Static vs Variable fonts​

At the moment only static fonts are supported, i.e. fonts containing only one spacific width/weight/style combination, for example "Open Sans Regular" or "Roboto Bold Italic".

Variable fonts support is still work in progress.

However, if you need to use a variable font in your app you can create static "instantiations" at specific weights using fonttools, then use those:

fonttools varLib.mutator ./YourVariableFont-VF.ttf wght=140 wdth=85

To explore available font features (e.g. possible options for wght) use Wakamai Fondue online tool.

Give Flet a try and let us know what you think!