Nimbus Sans

Nimbus Sans

Category	Sans-serif
Classification	Neo-grotesque
Designer	URW Studio
Foundry	URW++
Date released	1999
Design based on	Helvetica
Variations	URW Heisei Gothic

Nimbus Sans is a sans-serif typeface created by URW++, based on Helvetica.

Nimbus Sans

This version uses URW++ font source and historically has three optical sizes, labelled T (Text), D (Display), and P (Poster), ^[1] although not all are digitally available. ^{[2] [3]} Some fonts in the family support Western Europe, East Europe, Turkish, Baltic, and Romanian languages.

As the labels suggest, Nimbus Sans D and P are created for larger texts, thus have lighter font weights and tighter spacing. The two optical sizes have similar designs, with Nimbus Sans P being even tighter. Nimbus Sans P includes alternate designs for currency symbols.^{[ citation needed ]}

Weight	condensed	medium	extended
Black	roman	roman, italic	roman
Bold	roman	roman, italic	roman
Regular	roman	roman, italic	roman
Light	-	roman, italic	roman
(D) fonts
Weight	condensed	medium	extended
Black	roman, italic	roman, italic	roman, outline
Bold	roman, italic	roman, italic, outline	roman
Regular	roman, italic	roman, italic	roman
Light	roman, italic	roman, italic	roman
Ultra Light	-	roman	-
(P) fonts
Weight	condensed	medium	extended
Black	roman, italic	roman, italic	-
Bold	roman, italic	roman, italic	-
Regular	roman, italic	roman, italic	-
Light	roman, italic	roman, italic	-
Ultra Light	-	roman	-

Nimbus Sans Diagonal

It is a version with more right lean than Nimbus Sans italic fonts. The family currently only includes 1 font, in Black weight in medium width.

Nimbus Sans Mono

It is a monospaced variant of Nimbus Sans. The family currently only includes 1 font, in Regular weight in medium width.

Language extension

Nimbus Sans has multiple language-specific versions, supporting Arabic and Hebrew, ^[4] Chinese, ^[5] Japanese, ^[6] Thai, ^[7] and Devanagari scripts. ^[8]

There is also Nimbus Sans Global, which covers all the above languages in addition to Korean and Vietnamese. ^[9]

Nimbus Sans L

Created in 1987, Nimbus Sans L is a version of Nimbus Sans using Adobe font sources. The typeface was shipped with Apple's LaserWriter II, hence the "L" label. ^[1] The family includes 17 fonts in 5 weights and 2 widths, with Nimbus Sans L Extra Black only available in condensed roman format.

A subset of Nimbus Sans L, which includes regular and bold weight fonts in all widths and styles, were released under the GPL and AFPL in Type 1 format in 1996 ^{[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]} and LPPL in 2009, ^[16] making it one of several freely licensed fonts offered by URW++. Nimbus Sans L is part of the Ghostscript free font collection, a set of free alternatives to the 35 basic PostScript fonts (which include Helvetica). ^{[17] [18] [19] [20]} The Ghostscript version was updated as recently as in 2020 ^[21] and was extended to include support for Greek and Cyrillic characters.

Nimbus Sans L has metrics similar to Helvetica and Arial, and is a standard typeface in many Linux distributions. ^[22] It was used as default font in OpenOffice.org Calc and Impress, but its successor LibreOffice used Liberation Sans as the default sans-serif font.

TeX Gyre Heros

A derivative of Nimbus Sans L created for TeX environments and also in the OpenType format. ^[23] It includes limited support for Greek characters with a provisional design. ^[24]

FreeSans

Main article: GNU FreeFont

As part of the GNU FreeFont superfamilies, FreeSans extends Nimbus Sans L to cover a wide range of Unicode characters. ^{[25] [26]}

Nimbus Sans Novus

Nimbus Sans Novus is a variant published by URW++ using Linotype's Stempel Studio source, based on Neue Helvetica, but without the extended width. Some digital releases have support for Greek and Cyrillic characters, ^[27] some do not. ^{[28] [29]}

Comparisons between Neue Helvetica and Nimbus Sans Novus at the same font size.

While the design of the characters is based on Neue Helvetica, the two typefaces differ metrically: Nimbus Sans Novus has smaller x-height and is narrower at the same font size (but not at the same x-height).

The weight systems of the two typefaces also drastically differ. For instance, the Regular weight of Nimbus Sans Novus resembles the Light weight of Neue Helvetica, while the Medium weight of Nimbus Sans Novus resembles the Regular Neue Helvetica design. Nimbus Sans Novus has a Semibold weight, but Neue Helvetica does not.

The font names ending with (D) have tighter letter spacing.

Weight	condensed	medium
Ultra	roman, italic	-
Black	roman, italic	roman, italic
Heavy	roman, italic	roman, italic
Bold	roman, italic	roman, italic, outline
Semi Bold	roman, italic	roman, italic
Medium	roman, italic	roman, italic
Regular	roman, italic	roman, italic
Light	roman, italic	roman, italic
Ultra Light	roman, italic	roman, italic
(D) fonts
Weight	condensed	medium
Ultra	roman	-
Black	roman	roman, outline
Heavy	roman	roman
Bold	roman	roman
Semi Bold	roman	roman
Medium	roman	roman
Regular	roman	roman
Light	roman	roman
Ultra Light	roman	roman

See also

• Nimbus Roman No9 L
• Nimbus Mono L
• Free software Unicode typefaces

References

1. ""Disco Sucks!" - Fonts In Use" . Retrieved 2026-01-23.
2. "Nimbus Sans Font" . Retrieved 2026-01-24.
3. "Nimbus Sans Font - YouWorkForThem" . Retrieved 2026-01-24.
4. "Nimbus Sans Arabic Font" . Retrieved 2026-01-12.
5. "Nimbus Sans Chinese Simplified Font" . Retrieved 2026-01-12.
6. "Nimbus Sans Japanese Font" . Retrieved 2026-01-12.
7. "Nimbus Sans Thai Font" . Retrieved 2026-01-12.
8. "Nimbus Sans Devanagari" . Retrieved 2026-01-22.
9. "Nimbus Sans Global Font" . Retrieved 2026-01-12.
10. Finally! Good-quality free (GPL) basic-35 PostScript Type 1 fonts., archived from the original on 2002-10-23, retrieved 2010-05-06
11. Finally! Good-quality free (GPL) basic-35 PostScript Type 1 fonts. (TXT), retrieved 2010-05-06
12. "Fonts and TeX". 2009-12-19. Retrieved 2010-05-06.
13. Five years after: Report on international TEX font projects (PDF), 2007, retrieved 2010-05-06
14. ghostscript-fonts-std-4.0.tar.gz - GhostScript 4.0 standard fonts - AFPL license, 1996-06-28, archived from the original (TAR.GZ) on 2011-04-24, retrieved 2010-05-06
15. ghostscript-fonts-std-6.0.tar.gz - GhostScript 6.0 standard fonts - GPL license, 1999-12-22, archived from the original (TAR.GZ) on 2011-04-24, retrieved 2010-05-06
16. URW++ making original 35 fonts available under LPPL , retrieved 2010-05-06
17. "Fonts and font facilities supplied with Ghostscript" . Retrieved 2025-12-16.
18. "Linux fonts (mostly X11)". 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
19. "Ghostscript SVN - URW fonts" . Retrieved 2010-04-21.
20. "URW font ttf conversions". Ghostscript. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
21. "Latest (as of 2020/09/10) font release from URW++" . Retrieved 2026-01-10.
22. "Debian package - gsfonts" . Retrieved 2010-04-21.
23. "The TeX Gyre (TG) Collection of Fonts" . Retrieved 2026-01-06.
24. "CTAN: Package tex-gyre-heros". ctan.org. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
25. "Gnu FreeFont: Design notes" . Retrieved 2016-01-06.
26. "Gnu FreeFont support for OpenType OS/2 character ranges" . Retrieved 2026-01-06.
27. Nimbus Sans Novus Font , retrieved 2026-01-10
28. Nimbus Sans Novus Font - YouWorkForThem , retrieved 2026-01-30
29. Nimbus Sans Novus Font — Paratype.com , retrieved 2026-01-30

External links

Nimbus Sans

• URW pages:

Nimbus Sans Family,

Nimbus Sans Global

• Nimbus Sans on MyFonts
• URW fonts sources on Ghostscript (Type 1, OTF and TTF fonts)

Nimbus Sans L

• URW pages: Nimbus Sans L
• URW fonts releases
• Fonts and font facilities supplied with Ghostscript (Type 1)

Nimbus Sans Novus

• URW pages: Nimbus Sans Novus