The Unicode standard defines a massive number of characters — over 143,000 in Unicode 13 alone.
This includes letters and symbols from many languages, emojis, and specialized symbols from areas like Alchemy, Astrology, Mathematics, Meteorology, and Yijing Hexagrams.
It might sound convenient to have one single font that includes every Unicode character, but unfortunately, that’s not possible (yet).
Why it’s not technically possible
Modern font technologies like OpenType and TrueType have a built-in limit:
they can only contain up to 65,536 glyphs (characters with shapes).
That means a single font can cover less than half of the Unicode range (about 48%).
So, to cover all Unicode characters, you’d need at least three fonts, even in theory.
How operating systems handle missing characters
Because no single font can contain everything, operating systems use a fallback strategy when a character isn’t available in the selected font.
On macOS:
- The text system automatically looks for a replacement font with a similar appearance.
- For example, if you’re typing in Helvetica or Times and insert a Thai letter (like ข), macOS will automatically display it using a font that supports Thai — usually Ayuthaya.
In most cases, you won’t even notice the switch — macOS makes sure the text looks smooth and consistent.
Viewing fonts and fallbacks in PopChar
In PopChar, the character table usually shows all the characters from the currently selected font.
You can change the view using the Font Selection Menu at the bottom:
- Characters of Current Font → Displays only the characters in the selected font.
- Union of All Available Fonts → Displays all characters supported by any installed font.
In this view:
- Characters available in the selected font appear in black.
- Characters taken from fallback fonts appear in blue.
If a character doesn’t exist in any installed font, PopChar shows a red question mark in a box.
That means the character exists in the Unicode standard but not on your computer.
Example: The Unicode standard defines the character with the number 127167 “PLAYING CARD RED JOKER”.
If none of your fonts contain this character, PopChar shows a red question mark box indicating it’s missing. To use it, you’ll need to install a font that actually includes the symbol.
Viewing the complete Unicode range
If you want to explore all defined Unicode characters — including the ones you don’t currently have — select “All Unicode Characters” in PopChar.
This view shows every Unicode code point, marking unavailable ones clearly.
Fonts that cover large parts of Unicode
If you want to view or use more Unicode symbols, here are some font collections you can install:
Unifont (GNU Project)
- Available at Unifoundry.com.
- Comes in three parts: Unifont, Unifont Upper, and Unifont CSUR.
- Together, they cover most Unicode characters.
- The font has a square, pixel-style appearance — it’s designed for completeness and testing, not for high-quality typesetting.
If you are interested in other fonts that you can actually use for text, check out these alternatives:
Arial Unicode MS
- Comes pre-installed on macOS.
- Covers around 40,000 characters across many languages.
- Great for multilingual documents.
Google Noto Fonts
- A huge family of over 200 fonts designed to cover nearly all written languages.
- Available in many styles and scripts.
- You’ll need to download individual language fonts for full coverage.
Everson Mono
- A monospaced font with about 10,000 characters.
- Covers a wide range of languages.
TITUS Cyberbit Basic
- A serif font that includes many Indo-European and Germanic languages.
- Available from the University of Frankfurt (registration required).
Each of these fonts covers only part of the Unicode standard — but they include high-quality outlines suitable for documents, multilingual text, and many special symbols.