Long's other attempts at world domination: Windows 7 Taskforce | Here's an idea | Bing Image Archive



May 31, 2007 12:26 am AEST — By Long Zheng

Download the full Segoe font collection, official Microsoft branding typeface

SegoeThe official Microsoft branding typeface, Segoe, is a beautiful and elegant font. It’s used in almost every Microsoft branding campaign ranging from posters to logos, most notably Windows Vista. And for that reason, it’s not a font you can exactly download from any fonts website. However, if you do happen to have it through one way or another, you will cherish it. It works great as a Helvetica substitute, and even looks extremely sharp even in small font sizes due to the ClearType enhancements. And there’s no better if you need to create a fake Microsoft logo.

To note, this is not just Segoe UI which comes with Vista or Office 2007. Segoe UI is just one of the many subsets in the Segoe family which make up the collection. This is that collection.

Out of pure luck, Microsoft has actually let such a prized possession slip out of its internal archives and onto the public internet. A few weeks ago, Microsoft silently uploaded an ambiguous downloadable titled “Print Ad for Microsoft Dynamics Business Management Solutions Brief Description“. It would have sounded pretty innocent to the normal Microsoft.com user, but it was highly contagious for a sleuth like myself. And I was right, there it was in its full-fidelity and form, all 14 font files that make up the Segoe family.

Segoe fontsBut that’s not all. Apart from all possible combinations of condensed, semibold and light type variations, there are also PostScript (Type-1) versions and believe it or not, Mac versions. And to top it off, it also comes with the much adored license agreement spelled “licnese.txt”. In which it states,

Microsoft grants you a personal, nonexclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free license to install and use the Software solely for the purpose of creating materials requested by Microsoft and in accordance with the specification(s) provide to you by Microsoft. By way of example only, such materials may include printed material (such as advertising, packaging, promotional material, and manuals), form material (such as templates and style sheets), online graphic material (such as bitmapped text, bitmapped logos and Macromedia Flash animations), and broadcast material (such as television advertising).

You may install and use the Software on an unlimited number of computers as long as all such computers are either owned or controlled by you.

NO RENTAL/TRANSFER. You may not rent, lease, lend, or otherwise transfer the Software.

A rather straight-forward and lenient EULA by any legal standards. I’ll leave you to interpret what “creating materials requested by Microsoft” means. But since I cannot transfer you the “software” in a direct manner, you will have to download the full 24MB pile of ’stuff’ that the Segoe fonts are wedged between.

Once you have extracted the ZIP, you can find the TrueType fonts in the “BDM_Q107_LeadGen_AD\High Resolution\Fonts\Windows_Fonts\Segoe_PC\Segoe_TT_PC” directory. Copy and install the fonts and you’re all set.

Don’t ask me how I found this, just grab it quickly. You never know when the A-Team (Microsoft Legal Council) will blow it out of existence.

Update: The A-Team has struck again. They’re no fun. :(

100 Responses

  1. xaml says:

    Woo, is there more to come today? ;)

  2. African says:

    I suppose they integrate this font in new Office

  3. Long Zheng says:

    @African: Nope. Office only comes with Segoe UI which isn’t very elegant at all.

  4. Szajd says:

    Long, now I officially love you.

  5. Konstantin says:

    common question: what if i use these fonts in my software and want to distribute it – what is the best way to bring the user to download and install these fonts?

  6. some1 says:

    Thank you very much, but I am wondering how do you find time to go through such seemingly ordinary downloads? :)

  7. Berno says:

    Long, you’re a legend! You’re like the Chaser crew on Microsoft.

    For international readers: The Chaser’s War on Everything is a satirical current affairs comedy series broadcast on ABC TV in Australia.

  8. Jono says:

    Looks like they’ve already taken it down – the ‘download’ links just redirect to a “the download you requested is not available” message.

  9. Keff says:

    Oh, crap – it’s down :/.
    Any idea where to get it? I love creating MS ads :) )

  10. tino says:

    Wow, thanks a lot! But its donw now.

    Is/was there the Segoe Media Center font in it like in the beta versions of Vista?

  11. driven says:

    Anyone get it in time? Upload it to rapidshare or something for the rest of us?
    I really want those fonts.

  12. tom says:

    to all you sad people that so desperately want that Segoe font simply go out and buy Frutiger from Linotype. You’ll find Segoe looks almost identical to Frutiger sans a few minor details.

    Not sure why they are similar. Perhaps Microsoft didn’t want to pay the license fee for Frutiger and simply copied it. You bee the judge.

    FYI, Segoe (not Segoe UI which ships with Vista) is owned by Microsoft (or Linotype if you ask Linotype’s lawyers) and therefore can not be used or distributed without prior written permission by Microsoft. Since this is their corporate font I doubt they will really allow for this to be used in any other way than producing collateral for Microsoft.

  13. Long Zheng says:

    Apparently someone’s uploaded it to http://www.mediafire.com/?1u1e2j3wlx3

  14. rom says:

    the uploaded zip is corrupted :(

  15. I tested the downloaded (if only to check on the corrupt status) and it seemed Ok to me. I was able to access all files from within…

  16. rom says:

    same here, I can view the files of the zip, the problem is I can’t extract it.

  17. Paolo says:

    I clicked the link, it goes to the site but there is no download link

  18. Juancho says:

    I have downloaded the corrupt zip file, open it with winrar (winzip wont open it) then fix it, open the fixed file and extracted all the files.
    Hope it helps.

  19. rom says:

    Thanks Juancho, it worked :)

    I’ve also uploaded a mirror: http://rapidshare.com/files/34394137/Segoe_font.rar.html

  20. Keff says:

    I knew you guys wouldn’t keep it to yourselves :) ) Thanks!

  21. Arun Kumar says:

    ah, thanks a lot rom :) ur effort is much appreciated :) i hope long doesnt get into trouble for keeping the links in his website :P

  22. Long Zheng says:

    @Arun Kumar: If I do, I’ll blame you. :)

  23. Andy Wolf says:

    This long of a post just for a font? You are nuts.. NUTS I’m telling you!

  24. tino says:

    @tom: Microsoft didn’t created the Segoe. They purchased the font from Monotype and improved it for the ClearType technology. And yes it is very similar to the Frutiger Next but that is also the case with Adobe’s Myriad. Even Adobe couldn’t improve a perfect font like the Frutiger ;)

  25. Oscar says:

    Seriously – Univers 0wns BOTH those fonts. Psh! Myriad is only good for captions, and Frutiger is way too bland, imho…

    And in the end, they’re all based on Akzidenz Grotesk ;-)

  26. Si says:

    Cool, a blog and warez site rolled into one! Can someone send my Interstate, Nokia Sans and a bunch of Emigre fonts? ;-)

  27. Mike says:

    If I’m not mistaken, you can also get these fonts here:
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=048DC840-14E1 -467D-8DCA-19D2A8FD7485&displaylang=en

    Just uninstall when you’re done!

  28. Si says:

    Mike, you are mistaken, these are the ClearType Collection fonts that ship with Vista and Office, these are also included in the Office Compatibility Pack that gets installed when you try to view Office 2007 documents.

  29. Olly says:

    I already had Segoe Media Center and its various weights, but that didn’t have italic variations. It really is a nice font, thanks.

  30. Albert says:

    I was able to download the Zip folder and extract. Everything seems fine with the MediaFire download.

  31. gah says:

    Bleh, I’m late, they have removed the files. Can somebody please reupload them?

  32. Karim says:

    thanx

  33. Anonymous says:

    The Softpedia download link is working. Though you guys would like to know.

  34. Martijn van Berkel says:

    PLEASE!!! Can someone reupload the fonts, i am searching for it for 4 years now and all links aren’t work.

    PLEASE!!!

  35. Al says:

    The Softpedia download does seem to still work… A month after the 1st post of it working.

  36. Lori says:

    I have the italic ones if anyone still needs them.

    Lori

  37. sm9 says:

    I’ve just downloaded the Segoe font from the Softpedia link but I can’t figure out how to install them on OSX 10.4.10?

    I have opened Font Book, but it doesn’t recognise any of the files in the Mac folders. It did recognise the TTF files in the PC folder, but said there were serious validation errors with them.

    Any ideas?

    Thanks.

  38. Lege says:

    Softpedia only offers the Segoe UI font and nothing more.

  39. Drew Smith says:

    Yes it does! i have the full segoe collection, except from the Segoe Media Center font and the Segoe TV font. does anyone know where to get them?

  40. Justin says:

    Can someone contact me so I can get this Font Type from them it seems all the links have disappeared

  41. Justin says:

    Rom can you create another rapisshare ink for this font and possibly Adobe Myraid if you have it.
    Thanks

    will check back tommorrow

  42. Drew Smith says:

    Hi people! i know segoe is a lovely font, so i searched the the web for ages and a found a good link for you! be quick, i cannot guarantee this link will last for long. if anyone wants to know where you can get the Segoe Media Center font, and the Segoe Script and the Segoe Print font, click on the second link.

    http://downtown.vc/index.php?page=main&id=4ecb1506&name=uploaded by – sirqueza] Segoe font Pack 2007.rar

    http://invasiondivine.deviantart.com/art/IDnueusVI-58541349

  43. Drew Smith says:

    make sure you highlight the whole link, the website has only selected half the link!

  44. chiuchen says:

    Drew, I can’t love u more!

  45. Crista says:

    Thanks Drew!!

  46. Drew Smith says:

    Olly, can you give me the segoe media center fonts somehow? it would be great if you could!

  47. petax says:

    Hi there, after extensive research, this font is just Gill Sans under another name, rather like arial is just helvetica under another name, frutiger is close as well, but not as close a gill sans… cheers =8¬)

  48. Drew Smith says:

    I am sorry, but they are completely different. Look at the font Gill Sans’s t’s. they are completely different to the charectar t on segoe. those fonts are completely different.

  49. petax says:

    No need to apologise Drew, but in my view they are not, and I am not going to argue with you further, I guess it depends which cut of Gill you are using, I have managed to replicate a rubbish fireworks PNG supplied to me using this official microsoft ripoff of gill sans absolutely perfectly… but I do have 25 years experience as a typographer behind me, and a professional font collection to go with it. I usually start with the “G” and work my way out from there. I must admit I have not looked too hard at the ‘t’ I am sure there will be some small differences, I was stuck working in Caps as that is the way the PNG was supplied. I confess that I don’t have a lowercase set to compare Gill to.

    I would be facinated to actually get my hands on the this offending microsoft rip off segeo media font family to really take a look, but to be honest if it is microsoft… they can keep it.

    Frutiger however is quite different, however if you were wanting to have a joke with someone which is not as visually literate as you clearly are, you’d probably get away with it.

    All in good humour =8¬)

  50. shams says:

    I am sorry, but they are completely different. Look at the font Gill Sans’s t’s. they are completely different to the charectar t on segoe. those fonts are completely different.

  51. nobody says:

    I am sorry, but they are completely different. Look at the font Gill Sans’s t’s. they are completely different to the charectar t on segoe. those fonts are completely different.

    _____________

    one t maketh not a font, perhaps you are confusing the laymans view of a font and the pedantic, “ooh look at the cut on that” perspective, how many versions of helvetica are there? Next you’ll be telling me that Arial and Helevetica are totally different.

  52. bcryer says:

    Where can these fonts be downloaded to use on Macintosh? I cannot find them anywhere searching the internet! Thanks

  53. Sista Vimal says:

    Thanks for the font :)

  54. Bec says:

    Awesome! Thanks for the (working) links! :D

  55. typenerd says:

    its actually a simple and badly done copy of frutiger. just so M$ doesnt have to pay fees. typical.

  56. Benna says:

    Hey guys

    Both the links are down. Could someone share with me the file once again? Please..I need it as soon as possible

    Either on Rapishare…or MediaFire…

    Thanks In Advance.

  57. Segoeism says:

    I used to have it when I downloaded last year, but i recently formatted my PC and now all my Segoe fonts are gone! How dumb of me. Is there anyway to re-get it?

    Segoe, best font ever. Love it when it comes out on .pdf

  58. fiji says:

    Whats with Microsoft? What harm is to get the A-team to release it with the exception of Apple using that font. ;) :P

  59. babab says:

    thanks

  60. Dima says:

    Hi,

    Where can i download the Segoe font from?

  61. mohamed says:

    very goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

  62. shams says:

    Hi,

    Where can i download the Segoe font from?

  63. John says:

    Hi,

    Where can i download the Segoe font from? i tried a lot!

  64. Jon says:

    Please send me the font. It has been removed from the site that had it…
    It had been out some time ago, I am sure that it is around somewhere.
    Thank you,
    Jon

  65. Pablo says:

    Try this links (not mine, make some mirrors before they die if you can).
    Just found it through google, not checked if they are good.
    These are the full Segoe package apparently, not the Segoe UI you can find anywhere…
    There is no mac version I could find…

    http://www.mtoth.eu/app_html/Segoe_TT_PC.zip

    http://www.mtoth.eu/app_html/Segoe_PS_PC.zip

  66. Master Chief says:

    Hey Pablo thank you a lot the first link worked (only tested first).
    These fonts installed on my mac (still they would give a warning when you would install it but let it you will be fine ;) )
    Also Microsoft said that Segoe UI was made both for Mac and Windows so mac users are fine with Pablo links (i got this information from a microsoft link don’t ask it to me).
    And of course i am a good boy so i mirrored for all you people the Pablo upload if his link dies:

    Mediafire link:

    http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?h0pxnzozpwz

    Have fun!

  67. Sirpreet says:

    Hello… how do i download the fonts…

    cant see any button or anything to click to download the fonts…

    please advise

    :-)

  68. ehm, how do yoo download thum wheress thu buttton :L
    lmaoo :D - d

  69. dream.Zelph says:

    If anyone is still wondering where to download the fonts, but to lazy to read above, the the one below still works.

    http://invasiondivine.deviantart.com/art/IDnueusVI-58541349

  70. Chris says:

    Updated link with all Segoe fonts http://depositfiles.com/en/files/3437936

  71. Al says:

    go to the start menu, search ‘ehome’ and open the folder, this folder is for windows media center and it contains the fonts used in media center: segoe, segoe semi-bold, segoe light. (this only works with editions of vista that have media center)

  72. mridu pavan says:

    i like it…

  73. Haimin says:

    Nice, though which one should I use? Segoe, Myriad Pro or Frutiger?

    btw semibold weights ftw

  74. MarteIrae says:

    Thanks man! Downloaded ;)

  75. Junaid says:

    What the hell???
    I downloaded the fonts from the first in the post by Filho and my SegoeUI fonts all became blank.
    Sure, I did get the print and script fonts but I lost the ui font and it srewed my office 2007, which uses segoe ui as a default font.
    One of the worst downloads in my life…seroiusly!

  76. Deborah Simpson says:

    I’ve got this Segoe Print font on my Acer laptop.

    It’s the most readable font you could ever hope to have.

    Well…Ta!

  77. Bj says:

    My Office has Segor Script and all the varients.

  78. Smiley says:

    @Pablo, Thanks alot! The 1st link worked! I have been looking for that font for ages (well- just two days :) )

  79. Max says:

    Drew, u r freaking awesome!!! Got the fonts….. <3

  80. abdallahq says:

    nice fonts and good work thanks

Leave a reply