Font licensing

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Adobe Fonts offers thousands of fonts from over 150 type foundries as part of your Creative Cloud subscription.

All of the fonts are licensed for personal & commercial use; read about the font licensing in full in the Terms of Use.

The licensing information in these frequently asked questions applies to any fonts which have been activated through your Adobe account or added to a website with the embed code we provide.

Note:

Fonts that are installed in the Fonts folder on your computer are licensed under their own individual end user licensing agreements. These FAQs do not apply to those fonts; contact the font foundry directly with any questions on the font license.

Fonts activated from Adobe Fonts

Can I use the fonts to create a logo or other images?

Yes. You can use the fonts in any desktop program (such as Adobe Photoshop) to create images or vector artwork, which you can then use for any purpose. This includes generating a PDF, EPS file, or bitmapped file such as a JPEG or PNG.

Yes. The logo may be copyrighted or registered as a trademark under the Terms of Use.

Can I use the fonts for commercial projects or client work?

Yes. You can create digital designs or print work for your own use or for client projects. This includes generating a PDF, EPS file, or bitmapped file such as a JPEG or PNG.

Can I modify the look of a font and use it for commercial purposes?

Yes, you can modify or decorate type that you have converted to outlines. The resulting image may be copyrighted or registered as a trademark, or used in commercial products.

You may not make changes to the font software file itself.

Does my client need their own font license to use the designs?

No, not if you are creating graphics or documents that have rasterized or properly embedded font data, such as a PDF, JPEG, or PNG.

However, if your client needs to have the font installed to edit your design, they will need their own license, either through a Creative Cloud subscription or as a desktop license purchase.

Can I use the fonts to create products I will sell commercially, such as t-shirts, posters, books, magazines, or other printed merchandise?

Yes. You can use the fonts for any kind of merchandise, whether you’re designing a t-shirt for a friend or product packaging for a client. Other printed products, such as books or magazines, are permitted as well. There is no limitation on the number of impressions or items you may produce.

Can I use the fonts to make stencils, stickers, jewelry, or anything else that features a single letter or glyph?

No. You may not create a product that is individual glyphs from the font files, e.g. an alphabet set of each letter to spell out your own phrase. Creating products from individual glyphs is not allowed in any format.

Can my customers use the fonts to customize the products I sell?

No. The font licensing does not allow you to use the fonts in any way where your customers select and apply fonts to their own text as part of the design. This applies to both digital and physical products, such as greeting cards, T-shirts, and coffee cups.

You may create custom designs for a client on a one-to-one basis, but may not offer customizing products with fonts from your Creative Cloud subscription through a website or other service. Allowing your customers to create their own content requires a custom license, which needs to be purchased directly from the foundry or from an authorized reseller.

Can the fonts be embedded in PDFs and ebooks? Can they be used in printed books?

Yes. The fonts are licensed for embedding in any ebook format which protects the font data such as EPUB, iBooks, Kindle (mobi), Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite (DPS), and PDF.

Any ebook authoring workflow which requires the user to move the font files themselves is not allowed under the Terms of Use, however.

As with any electronic document, the fonts must only be used for viewing or printing existing content, not for creating new document variations, templates, or dynamic content.

You may also use the fonts to create print publications such as books or magazines, but you are not allowed to package or share the fonts with designers or print bureaus.

There is no limitation on the number of impressions you may produce.

Do I need to credit Adobe for the fonts I use in my projects?

No. You are not obligated to include attribution for the fonts used in the documents or products you create.

Can I embed the fonts in a mobile or desktop application I’m building?

No. The font licensing does not allow you to embed the fonts within mobile or desktop applications. This requires an appropriate license to be purchased directly from the foundry or one of their authorized resellers.

Can I embed the fonts in Flash files?

Yes. The fonts can be embedded in SWF files and AIR applications, when subsetted using authoring applications like Adobe Animate or Flash Professional. As with any electronic document, the fonts must only be used for viewing or printing existing content, not for creating new or dynamic content.

Can I use the fonts in the production of film or video content?

Yes. You can use the fonts to produce film or video content for in-house, commercial exhibition, or broadcast use, using tools like Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe After Effects. The fonts may also be used in video content which will be distributed online through services such as YouTube or Vimeo.

Is there a limit to the number of fonts I can activate at one time?

No, there is no limit on the number of fonts you can select to activate. However, we recommend de-activating fonts you no longer use to keep your font menu short and optimize performance. The fonts can always be re-activated if you need to use them again.

Are the fonts compatible with the InDesign or Illustrator packaging workflow that I use to send documents out for printing?

No. The Terms of Use do not permit the fonts to be transferred to another user or computer, so they cannot be packaged with the file. The printer needs to have their own license for the fonts, either through a Creative Cloud subscription or as a perpetual desktop license purchase.

There is more information in the Packaging font files help page.

Can I install the fonts on my server?

No. The font licensing isn't compatible with server installation. You will need to purchase the appropriate font license for any fonts that you want to install on your server from the font foundry directly or the foundry's authorized reseller.

Can I use the fonts with InDesign Server?

No. The font licensing isn't compatible with InDesign Server. You will need to purchase the appropriate font license for any fonts that you want to use in InDesign Server from the font foundry directly or the foundry's authorized reseller.

Can I keep using files I created with these fonts if I cancel Creative Cloud?

Yes and no. Any file which embeds the font data, such as PDF or image formats, and any text that has been rasterized or outlined, will continue to display correctly. These types of files may be reproduced and distributed independent of your subscription status.

Documents that reference fonts on your computer, such as an InDesign or Word document, will show a missing fonts warning and use a default font from the program in place of the one from Adobe Fonts. You would need to purchase a new font license and install the fonts on your computer to continue to display and edit these files.

Are these fonts available with a perpetual desktop license? What if I need a custom license?

Perpetual desktop licenses, as well as extended licensing, for Adobe-owned fonts are available from the following resellers:

Typenetwork.com
MyFonts 
Fonts.com 
Fontspring

You may contact one of our resellers if you require customizations or multi user licensing for Adobe Originals.

Perpetual desktop font licenses and custom font licenses for third party fonts can be purchased from the font foundry's website or from the foundry's authorized reseller.

Web fonts from Adobe Fonts

Can I use web fonts on my personal or company website?

Yes. If your website is viewed in the browser–either on the desktop or on a mobile device–it's covered by the web font license.

The web font license also requires that the fonts be added to your website by the embed code that we provide. The tutorial on adding fonts to your website shows how it works.

Can I use web fonts for my client websites?

The Terms of Use do not permit reselling beyond December 31, 2019. After that time, the client's website must load Adobe Fonts from their own Creative Cloud subscription to ensure that there isn't any interruption to the font licensing or web font hosting.  

Please refer to the full Terms of Use for more information on what reselling the service means, and related definitions.

How do I move a web project from my account to a client?

You can:

The client needs to set up their Creative Cloud subscription before the web font project can be transferred. The full font library is included in most paid Creative Cloud subscriptions (with a few exceptions).

Can I use web fonts in an HTML email or newsletter?

Yes. The @import CSS embed code can be used to include custom fonts in HTML email or newsletters; the HTML email or newsletters help page has details.

Can I use web fonts in a banner advertisement?

Yes. The CSS embed code can be used to include custom fonts in banner advertisements.

Can I let my customers use web fonts to customize the products I sell?

No. The font licensing does not allow you to use the fonts in any way where your customers select and apply fonts to their own text as part of the design. This applies to both digital and physical products, such as greeting cards, T-shirts, and coffee cups.

You may create custom designs for a client on a one-to-one basis, but may not offer customizing products with fonts through a website or other service. Allowing your customers to create their own content requires a custom license, which needs to be purchased directly from the foundry or from an authorized reseller.

Can I embed web fonts in a mobile or desktop application I’m building?

No. The font licensing does not allow you to embed the fonts within mobile or desktop applications. This requires an appropriate license to be purchased directly from the foundry or from an authorized reseller.

The web fonts will work from a web view within a mobile or desktop application, though.

Can I host the web font files on my own server?

No. Adobe doesn't offer the ability to locally host fonts. Our web font hosting delivers fonts from a globally-distributed content delivery network (CDN), which performs much better and is more scalable than using local hosting for static assets.

Can I keep using the fonts on my websites if I cancel Creative Cloud?

No. If you cancel your Creative Cloud subscription, the web fonts will no longer be available to your websites. Any site using the web fonts will display the fallback fonts specified in your font stack or your browser's defaults.

Is there a pageview limitation for the web fonts I use on my websites?

No. There is no limitation on the number of monthly pageviews for web fonts hosted from your Creative Cloud subscription. 

Desktop fonts in Adobe Font Folio

What is the difference between Font Folio and Adobe Fonts?

The Adobe Fonts library is included with all paid Creative Cloud subscription plans, and fonts can be activated on your computer via the Creative Cloud desktop application. Adobe Font Folio is a collection of perpetually-licensed font files to download and install locally on your computer.  

Both include Adobe Originals, but are otherwise unique collections of fonts. 

Font Folio has Adobe's traditional, perpetual end-user licensing agreement for desktop publishing. The fonts in Font Folio are not licensed for web use. Font licensing for Adobe Fonts includes web and desktop use for everything in the font library, as long as you have an active Creative Cloud subscription. Font Folio supports server use, while Adobe Fonts does not.

Where can I learn more about Adobe Font Folio?

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