fonts — texthai.org

XeLaTeX loads fonts by their system name, not by filename. This means fonts must be installed system-wide before XeLaTeX can find them. The steps below cover each platform.

Thai fonts

TH Sarabun New — ทีเอช สารบรรณ ใหม่ recommended

สวัสดี ภาษาไทย กขคงจฉชซ

Latin: The quick brown fox

source: SIPA / National Electronics and Computer Technology Center license: free weights: Regular, Bold, Italic, Bold Italic

The standard choice for Thai academic and government documents. Good Latin coverage for mixed documents. XeLaTeX font name: TH Sarabun New.

f0nt.com/release/th-sarabun-new/ — github.com/fontuni/boon (Boon, a refined derivative)

Norasi included in TeX Live

สวัสดี ภาษาไทย กขคงจฉชซ

source: TLWG (Thai Linux Working Group) license: GPL

Serif Thai, similar in feel to Times. Already present in TeX Live Medium — no download needed. XeLaTeX font name: Norasi.

Garuda included in TeX Live

สวัสดี ภาษาไทย กขคงจฉชซ

source: TLWG license: GPL style: sans-serif

Sans-serif Thai. Good for presentations and headings. XeLaTeX font name: Garuda.

English fonts for mixed documents

TeX Gyre Pagella included in TeX Live

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789

family: Palatino-derived license: GUST Font License (free) weights: Regular, Bold, Italic, Bold Italic

Part of the TeX Gyre collection. Included in TeX Live Medium and MacTeX — no download needed. XeLaTeX font name: TeX Gyre Pagella.

MikTeX: TeX Gyre is listed as the tex-gyre package but may not install automatically when referenced via \setmainfont{}. If you get a font-not-found error, run mpm --install=tex-gyre from a command prompt, or install it through the MikTeX Console package manager.

Direct download (all TeX Gyre families, Type 1 + OpenType, 20.7MB): ctan.org/pkg/tex-gyre

Installing fonts system-wide

TeX Live Medium already includes Norasi, Garuda, and TeX Gyre Pagella. Only THSarabunNew needs manual installation. The steps below install it system-wide so XeLaTeX can find it by name.

Windows WIN

Download the .ttf files for TH Sarabun New (all four weights)
Select all four files → right-click → Install for all users (not just "Install" — that installs for current user only and XeLaTeX may not find it)
No restart needed. XeLaTeX finds fonts via the Windows font registry.

If you use "Install" (not "for all users"), XeLaTeX running as a different process context may not see the font. When in doubt, use "Install for all users".

macOS MAC

Download the .ttf files
Double-click each → Install Font in Font Book
Or drag to /Library/Fonts/ for system-wide installation
XeLaTeX uses the macOS font system directly; no additional steps needed.

Linux LIN

Copy .ttf files to /usr/local/share/fonts/thai/ (create directory if needed)
Run sudo fc-cache -fv to rebuild the font cache
Verify with fc-list | grep -i sarabun — should show the font path and name

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/share/fonts/thai
sudo cp THSarabunNew*.ttf /usr/local/share/fonts/thai/
sudo fc-cache -fv
fc-list | grep -i sarabun

On FreeBSD: same steps, but fonts go in /usr/local/share/fonts/TTF/. Run fc-cache -fv without sudo if your user owns the directory.

Verifying font names

XeLaTeX uses the font's internal name, not the filename. If \setmainfont{TH Sarabun New} fails, check what name the system registered:

fc-list | grep -i sarabun     # Linux / macOS / FreeBSD

The string before the colon is the font file path; after the colon is the registered name. Use that name exactly in \setmainfont{}.

Filename vs font name: the file may be called THSarabunNew.ttf but the internal name registered with fontconfig is TH Sarabun New. These are different. XeLaTeX wants the internal name.

Pairing Thai and English fonts

In a mixed Thai-English document, fontspec lets you assign different fonts to different scripts. A common and reliable pairing:

\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setmainlanguage{thai}
\setotherlanguage{english}

\setmainfont{TH Sarabun New}[
  Script=Thai,
  BoldFont={TH Sarabun New Bold},
  ItalicFont={TH Sarabun New Italic}
]
\newfontfamily\englishfont{TeX Gyre Pagella}[
  Ligatures=TeX
]

With polyglossia, Thai text uses THSarabunNew automatically and English text switches to Pagella when inside an \textenglish{} block or an English-language environment.

Thai font	English pair	character	notes
TH Sarabun New	TeX Gyre Pagella	serif, warm	best general pairing; similar weight and x-height
TH Sarabun New	TeX Gyre Termes	serif, neutral	Times-derived; more formal feel
Garuda	TeX Gyre Heros	sans-serif	Helvetica-derived; good for presentations
Norasi	TeX Gyre Termes	serif, classic	both Times-family; consistent but safe

All TeX Gyre fonts are included in TeX Live Medium. No downloads needed. The full family: Pagella (Palatino), Termes (Times), Heros (Helvetica), Bonum (Bookman), Chorus (Chancery), Cursor (Courier), Schola (Century Schoolbook).