Malayalam fontsമലയാളം
Malayalam typefaces for print and screen. Type your own text into the preview — the script's conjuncts are where fonts differ most.
3 open-licensed fonts that can set Malayalam, each free to download for personal and commercial work.
Traditional or reformed
Malayalam is written two ways: the traditional orthography, rich in stacked conjuncts, and the reformed script of the 1970s, which spells many of them out with a visible virama. Fonts favour one or the other, so check a word with ക്ക or ന്ത in the preview.
Chillu letters
The chillu letters — ൻ ർ ൽ ൾ ൺ — are consonants without a vowel. Newer text encodes them as characters of their own, so check that the font draws them.
Setting Malayalam text
Malayalam needs a text engine that forms conjuncts. Word and current browsers handle it. In Photoshop, switch to the Middle Eastern and South Asian text engine under Preferences → Type.