The right font for the job

What makes a caption font readable

• Weight. Thin strokes disappear at phone size and after compression, so the studio loads every bold sans at a heavy weight, such as Montserrat at 900 and TikTok Sans at 800.
• Open letter shapes. Letters like a, e and s need clear gaps inside them, or they fill in when the video is compressed.
• Width. A wide font fits fewer letters across the frame, so long words shrink; a condensed one keeps them large.
• An outline or shadow. Even the best font needs a strong edge against busy footage.

Choosing a font in the studio

1. Open the studio, add your clip and run Find words.
2. Start from the preset closest to the look you want; each one comes with its own font.
3. In the Text tab, open Typeface and search the list, or scroll through it to compare.
4. Set Size and Letter case (As spoken, UPPER or lower). Capitals suit bold and condensed fonts; serifs read better in normal case.
5. Find the longest word in your video and play that moment, since that is where a font runs out of room.
6. Export the MP4 and check it on a phone.

On Creator and Pro you can also upload your own font as a TTF, OTF or WOFF file, for a brand typeface.

The four groups

• Bold sans (14): TikTok Sans, Montserrat, Poppins, Inter, Nunito, Rubik, Outfit, Sora, League Spartan, Bricolage Grotesque, Unbounded, Kanit, Space Grotesk and Archivo Black. The safe default for talking clips.
• Condensed (3): Anton, Bebas Neue and Oswald. Tall, narrow letters for one or two huge words at a time.
• Playful (5): Luckiest Guy, Bangers, Lilita One, Titan One and Permanent Marker. Comedy, gaming and anything loud.
• Serif (2): Instrument Serif and DM Serif Display. Interviews, documentaries and anything that should feel calm.

Each preset pairs a font with the outline, size and motion that suit it:

Questions