WenJin Mincho: a large Song typeface set under the SIL Open Font License

A secondary development of Source Han Serif, not a fresh design

WenJin Mincho is a large character set Song style font family. The lineage is stated plainly in the project documentation: it is built by secondary development of a font set whose main component is generated from Source Han Serif and a modified version of the Kage engine, using GlyphWiki data, and the author credits Source Han Serif and the modified Kage engine as the sources.

The character coverage claim is specific. The family implements full coverage of the glyphs registered in the Unicode defined Han and Ideographic Variation Database, and the Unicode Han glyph forms are presented mainly according to the Mainland China glyph standards.

That last clause is the reason the project exists, and the reasoning is given directly. Free for commercial use, or open source, large character set Chinese fonts are relatively few, and freely usable large character set Song fonts that follow the Mainland China glyph standards are almost nonexistent. So the positioning is not a new typeface but a specific, licensed answer to a specific gap.

The name in the repository is a mix of Chinese and English, WenJinMincho, and the project documentation is written in Chinese with an English version available as a separate file in the repository. The primary language recorded for the repository is Lua, which fits a project whose substance is font data and generation scripts rather than an application.

The releases follow a versioned scheme, with v2.100 on 2026-10-01, v2.020 on 2026-08-21 and v2.012 on 2026-07-02, and the last push to the repository was on 2026-10-01.

The OpenType features are what separate it from a plain Song font

Beyond the outlines and the coverage, the family carries a set of OpenType features that the documentation lists individually, and they are the actual reason to choose this font over a generic Song face.

The first is glyph standard switching, which lets a user move between regional glyph standards within the same font. That is a typographic feature rather than a design one: for text that mixes simplified Chinese with Japanese kanji readings, or with traditional forms inside a Chinese document, the same character can carry the right shape for its context.

The second is pinyin and zhuyin variant sign support, with vertical layout support for the zhuyin signs specifically, and correct positioning of the annotated characters. The font supports several pinyin and zhuyin systems, and the annotation features mean a text with ruby annotations renders with the annotation placed and spaced properly rather than approximated.

The third is punctuation compression, which tightens the spacing around punctuation so that a paragraph of Chinese text sets with the density you would expect from a professional Chinese book face.

The glyph standard switching is documented in a separate table in the doc/ directory, the character variation sequences are charted in another document there, and the manual is published as a PDF in doc/manual.pdf. The project documentation is emphatic that the manual should be read before using the family, in order to make full use of what it provides and to avoid problems, and the INTRODUCE.md file in the repository is the illustrated introduction.

Three lettered variants, and the letters are in the file names

The family is not one file. It is shipped in several builds, and the variant is encoded in the file name, which is the practical detail to know before you download anything.

The standard build is available as OTF with PostScript outlines, at otf/WenJinMinchoP#-Regular.otf, and as TTF with TrueType outlines, at ttf/WenJinMinchoP#-Regular.ttf. The P stands for the standard spacing. The condensed spacing build is a TTF at ttf/WenJinMinchoCP#-Regular.ttf, where the C marks the condensed variant. The Windows GDI compatible build is a TTF at ttf/WenJinMinchoWP#-Regular.ttf, where the W marks the GDI compatible variant.

Each version is further offered both as a TTC or OTC bundle and as three separate TTF or OTF font files, and the documentation says a user needs to pick either the bundle or the separate files.

The platform recommendation is specific. Windows users are advised to install the TTF version, and if they regularly use Adobe design software they may prefer the OTF version, with the reason given: the OTF font files cannot be embedded in Microsoft Office, and the PDF export function cannot convert them into copyable text. For macOS, iOS, Linux, BSD, Android and other Unix-like systems, the recommendation is the OTF version. The condensed build is offered for people who find too much space between lines in Microsoft Word, where the default effect is similar to fonts such as DengXian and SimSun.

The GDI compatible build is a fallback for a specific rendering problem. If you mainly use Windows GDI based applications such as Word 2010 or BabelStone Pad and find that quotation marks are displayed in Western form, with the opening quote on the left and a blank gap left after it, or that some punctuation appears in Western variable-width form rather than the full-width Chinese form, the W build addresses it. The documentation notes that only the Uniscribe shaping engine has these problems and that DirectWrite and HarfBuzz do not, and that the W build is not recommended in other cases.

The W build is frozen and the C build came back

Two dated notes in the project documentation decide which build you should install today, and they point in opposite directions.

The first is that from 2026-02-16 the Windows GDI compatible build, the W version, is no longer updated, and the W version released before that date is the last one. The documentation asks users of the W version to replace it with the standard version as soon as possible, to use a relatively new version of the software where possible, and to keep the font version current. It apologises for the inconvenience.

There is a fallback for anyone who struggles with the replacement, such as a newer software version causing incompatibility problems: you may modify the standard version files appropriately to meet your own needs, and the note adds that a modified version must still comply with the terms shipped with the font, so a modified OFL font must still be released under the OFL.

The second note is that from 2026-10-02 the condensed spacing build, the C version, resumed updates. So the C build is live again, the W build is dead, and the standard P build is the default line.

There is also a distribution note with a caution marker: after the v2.000 release in the second half of 2025, the Gitee storage repository continues to be updated. The project addresses are the GitHub repository, the Gitee repository, a Baidu netdisk mirror that provides the font files and the manual including historical versions, and a set of third party font download sites which may lag behind. The documentation warns specifically that GitCode and similar platforms are not to be used to mirror the font, since the author has never had an account there and never authorised third parties to create repositories, and says the author will pursue legal responsibility.

What the OFL lets you do, and the two conditions that come with it

The licence is the SIL Open Font License 1.1, and the project documentation is unusually explicit about it: any personal or organisation use, copying, modification or distribution of the font is taken as full agreement to the OFL, and violating any clause automatically terminates your authorisation.

What you may do is generous. Any individual, group, organisation or company may use it for free for both commercial and non-commercial typesetting, printing and design, with no fee, no need to notify the author in advance, no requirement to state the source, and no need to obtain permission. You may distribute the font files freely, or embed and bundle them into any software or device, and that software or device may be commercially distributed or sold. You may modify, extend and convert the font files.

The conditions on modification are specific and worth reading before you fork the glyphs. A derivative font must continue to be released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, and no additional licensing restrictions may be added on top of the OFL. You must not use the reserved font names or their translations, which are listed as WenJin Mincho, the Chinese forms, the Japanese form and the Korean form. This means that if you modify the glyphs, the spacing, or substantially reduce the character set and republish the result as a standalone font, you must rename your derivative. The full copyright statement in the licence file must be preserved.

There is one named exception, and it is a narrow and practical one. If you subset the font or convert the format, such as to WOFF or WOFF2, purely for web rendering optimisation, and you do not offer it to the public as an installable desktop font, you may continue to use the reserved font name. That is the case for almost every web deployment, and it is the difference between a web font and a repackaged desktop font.

What you may not do is sell the font files or their derivatives on their own, although you may bundle them with other software for sale, release the font or a modified derivative under a licence other than the OFL, and use the original author's name or the reserved font name to promote or endorse your derivative without explicit written permission.

Where WenJin Mincho is the wrong tool

The first limit is the reserved font name. If your plan involves adjusting glyphs, changing spacing or dropping characters and publishing the result as a font in its own right, you must rename it, and if your organisation's workflow publishes a modified font under a name that is already in use, that is a naming decision you will have to make before you start rather than after.

The second is that the licence is not a general commercial licence. The OFL is designed for fonts and it is permissive in the ways that matter here, but the no-standalone-sale rule is a real constraint for anyone whose business is distributing fonts. The documentation is direct about it, and it also warns that anyone needing to pay for the font file itself or needing special permission is being asked for money by a party that is not authorised to charge for it.

The third is the practical matter of which build you will be running five years from now. The W build is frozen as of 2026-02-16 and the documentation asks users to move off it, so a system that depends on the GDI compatible behaviour is now on a dead branch. The C build was frozen and then resumed on 2026-10-02, which tells you the project's line status can change in either direction and that a version pin in your deployment is not a permanent decision.

The fourth is that this is one author's project, and the documentation says so plainly in its feedback section: read the manual, the FAQ chapter, the known issues collection and the issue trackers before asking a question, and repeated or invalid questions may go unanswered. The contact details are a QQ group, an email address and a set of social media accounts, and the documentation notes the author may not reply promptly.

The fifth is scope. The family is a Song style face with Chinese coverage and Chinese-first OpenType features. If you need a Japanese or Korean Mincho with those regions' glyph standards, the regional switching feature exists but the coverage emphasis is the Mainland China one, and this is not the font for a Japanese-first publishing workflow.

Editorial conclusion

WenJin Mincho is worth adopting for a team that needs a Song style Chinese typeface with Mainland China glyph forms, full CJK coverage and permission to embed it in commercial software, because the SIL Open Font License 1.1 grants exactly that with no fee and no requirement to ask permission or to credit the author. It is the wrong choice if you need to modify the glyphs and publish the result under the original name, because the reserved font names rule forbids that, and the wrong choice if you want the Windows GDI compatible build, which stopped being updated on 2026-02-16. Before you adopt it, check the three things the project states about itself: that the W version, the Windows GDI compatible build, is frozen and users of it should move to the standard version, while the C version, the condensed spacing build, resumed updates on 2026-10-02; that the family is offered as P, C and W variants in both OTF and TTF outlines, with the version letter in the file name, and the guidance that Windows users should take TTF while macOS, iOS, Linux, BSD and Android users should take OTF; and that a derivative font may keep the reserved name only in the specific case of web font subsetting or format conversion for rendering, not offered to the public as an installable desktop font.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. README
3. Releases
4. takushun-wu/WenJinMincho on GitHub