Thai font · COMMERCIAL

Cordia New

คอร์เดียนิว

By Narongsak Chaiwong

Typography & Licensing Specialist, ThaiGraph · April 16, 2026 · Updated August 5, 2026

Information verified as of August 2026

อ่านหน้า ฟอนต์ Cordia New เป็นภาษาไทย — พร้อมลิงก์ดาวน์โหลดและวิธีติดตั้ง →

What Cordia New is

Cordia New is the looped Thai sans that Microsoft bundles with Windows and Office, designed by Unity Progress Corp in 1992. Microsoft’s own typography documentation describes it as “a newer version of the same typeface [Cordia], with small adjustments.” That documentation states the family has two weights — Regular and Bold — each with a complementary slanted (italic) style, for four files in total.

Microsoft’s design description is equally direct: Cordia is a “geometric” design combining simple straight strokes with round curves. It has no contrast between thick and thin strokes, even in the loops — the small circles at the extremes of some Thai letters — and Microsoft positions it as suitable for body text with a modern, futuristic appearance.

For a generation of Thai office workers, Cordia New was never a choice; it was the font that appeared. Its reach came from one channel only: Microsoft shipped it with the operating system. Its serif counterpart in the same bundle is Angsana New, which carries the same designer credit and the same 1992 copyright line.

Cordia New vs CordiaUPC

They are the same typeface. Microsoft’s page for CordiaUPC reproduces the Cordia New design description word for word, carries the identical ”© 1992 Unity Progress” copyright, and differs only in file names and internal metrics. Cordia New ships as Cordia.ttf / Cordiab.ttf / Cordiaz.ttf / Cordiai.ttf; CordiaUPC ships as Cordiau.ttf / Cordiaub.ttf / Cordiauz.ttf / Cordiaui.ttf.

“UPC” is the designer’s own initials — Unity Progress Corporation. The UPC cut is the original, tied to earlier Thai document standards; the “New” cut is Microsoft’s later adjustment for modern rendering. Crucially, both still ship today. Cordia New did not replace CordiaUPC, contrary to what is often assumed; the two sit side by side inside the same Windows optional-font feature.

The practical consequence: a legacy document laid out in CordiaUPC will reflow — different line breaks, different pagination — if opened on a machine that only has Cordia New, because the metrics differ. The fix is to install the whole supplemental set rather than substituting fonts one at a time. The other UPC families in that set are DilleniaUPC, EucrosiaUPC, FreesiaUPC, IrisUPC, JasmineUPC, KodchiangUPC and LilyUPC.

Cordia New weights and styles (including Bold)

Microsoft lists Cordia New in four styles: Cordia New, Cordia New Bold, Cordia New Bold Italic and Cordia New Italic — two real weights, Regular and Bold, plus an italic companion for each. There is no Light, no Medium, no Black, and no variable-font version.

One thing to know about Cordia New Bold: because the design carries essentially no stroke contrast, the bold cut thickens uniformly rather than tapering. The loops on ก, ถ and ภ fill in easily below about 14pt on a standard laser printer. For heavy Thai headings that stay open, Sarabun offers eight weights instead of two.

The font covers Thai and Latin — Microsoft’s OpenType data lists code pages 1252 Latin and 1874 Thai — but the Latin set is a supporting player, not designed to lead a layout.

Where to download Cordia New

There is no download from Microsoft. The Download row on the official documentation reads “N/A – Exclusively included with Microsoft products and services where applicable.” If your machine runs a licensed copy of Windows or Office, you already have the right to use the font; there is nothing to buy.

So why do so many people find it missing? Because Microsoft moved the Thai families out of the default installation into an optional feature called Thai Supplemental Fonts. Microsoft gives three reasons: reduce the operating system footprint, improve performance, and optimise disk space usage. After a clean install or a cross-version upgrade, optional fonts are not enabled by default — that is the real cause of “Windows 10/11 has no Cordia New.”

Installing Cordia New on Windows 11

1. Right-click Start → Settings
2. Left pane: System → right pane: Optional features (Shortcut: right-click Start → Run → enter ms-settings:optionalfeatures → OK)
3. Select View features next to Add an optional feature
4. Find Thai Supplemental Fonts and tick its box
5. Select Next, review the list, then select Add

Installing on Windows 10

1. Right-click Start → Settings → System → left pane Optional features
2. Select the + button next to Add a feature
3. Tick Thai Supplemental Fonts and select Add

The alternative: add Thai as a system language

If you want the Thai fonts plus full language support, go to Settings → Time & language → Language & region (Windows 11) or Time & Language → Language (Windows 10) and add Thai under Preferred languages. The shortcut to that pane is ms-settings:regionlanguage.

Both routes pull the files through Windows Update, so the device must be online during installation. If an organisation has Windows Update disabled, the optional feature will fail to install and needs either a temporary exception or a Features on Demand deployment.

What about free font download sites?

Search for “Cordia New free download” and you will find aggregator sites offering Cordia.ttf. Those files were extracted from Windows installations and have no licence behind them, because Microsoft has never published this font as a standalone file. Installing them on a machine without a Windows or Office licence, or self-hosting them as a webfont, sits outside the licence entirely. There are only two legitimate routes: the Windows optional feature above, or one of the open-licensed alternatives below.

Is Cordia New free? Can it be used commercially?

It is free only in the sense that it is included in the price of the Windows or Office licence you already hold — not free in the open-source sense. Commercial work on a licensed machine is fine: documents, quotations, print layouts, PDF export all sit inside the normal bundled-font licence.

What is not permitted: redistributing the font files, embedding the font in non-Microsoft products or applications, and self-hosting it as a webfont. Those three need separate licensing through the enterprise font-licensing route Microsoft links from its documentation. If the project is a website, skip the negotiation entirely — the open-licensed families below get you there faster.

Free alternatives to Cordia New

If the work has to live on the web, on someone else’s machine, or in a file you hand off, start with an open-licensed looped Thai face instead of trying to make Cordia New portable.

• Sarabun — looped Thai sans under the SIL Open Font License, eight weights with italics, free to embed and free for commercial use. The closest replacement in the document-body role.
• TH Sarabun PSK — the family Thai government documents are built around. For anything going to a Thai public agency it is a better fit than Cordia New. See also the revised TH Sarabun New.
• Noto Sans Thai Looped — nine weights under the OFL with traditional circular loops, rendering consistently across platforms. Strong when Thai and English share a sentence.
• IBM Plex Sans Thai Looped — another OFL option, drawn as a matched Thai-Latin pair from the outset, which helps when both scripts must hold the same tone.

A note on Leelawadee: it installs alongside Cordia New in the same Thai Supplemental Fonts feature, but it is bundled under the same system licence rather than an open one. It substitutes fine on a Windows machine; it does not solve the web or file-handoff problem.

Compare them against your own text in the font tester, or browse Thai sans-serif fonts and free Thai fonts.

All 14 fonts in Thai Supplemental Fonts

Installing the single optional feature delivers all fourteen of Microsoft’s Thai families at once, not just Cordia New. Microsoft’s documentation lists them in full:

• Angsana New · AngsanaUPC — the paired Thai serifs
• Browallia New · BrowalliaUPC — wider sans than Cordia
• Cordia New · CordiaUPC — this geometric sans
• DilleniaUPC — tied to several Thai official document formats
• EucrosiaUPC · FreesiaUPC · IrisUPC
• JasmineUPC · KodchiangUPC · LilyUPC
• Leelawadee — the only one in the set drawn fresh for screen

If an old document renders as garbled text or empty boxes, install the whole set rather than hunting individual files.

Best use cases

Cordia New fits work that begins and ends inside the Microsoft ecosystem, with recipients who are also on Windows. Strong briefs:

• Thai business documents in Microsoft Word that the reader will print or convert to PDF
• Internal corporate templates that must match already-laid-out legacy files
• Outlook correspondence and Thai email signatures on Windows
• Legacy forms whose master file is a Word document with fixed metrics

Where it does not fit: websites (no webfont licence, invisible to Android and iOS readers), brand systems whose files go out to suppliers, print jobs that must ship fonts to a press, and any project where typography is a decision rather than a default. For those, Kanit, Prompt and Sarabun give you far more room.

Pairings

Cordia New pairs inside Microsoft’s own Thai bundle, where the families share a metric base and a design era. Three pairings:

• Angsana New — same designer, same copyright year; use it for body text under Cordia New headings
• Browallia New — the wider sans in the set, useful for separating a secondary heading level
• Sarabun — when files leave the Windows world, move the body text to this open licence

The Thai typography guide covers Thai-Latin pairing in more depth; the fonts directory has the full catalogue.

Licensing

Cordia New is proprietary software with Microsoft Corp. listed as the font vendor. The copyright line reads ”© 1992 Unity Progress. Portions © 2004 The Monotype Corporation. Portions © 2019 Microsoft Corporation.” Usage rights attach to that machine’s Windows or Office licence. There is no standalone sale, no public webfont licence, and no redistribution right.

Organisations that need more — embedding in shipped software, server installation, or webfont use — must negotiate separately through the enterprise route Microsoft links from the Cordia New documentation. For everyday work that should not involve licence negotiation at all, Sarabun and Noto Sans Thai Looped deliver comparable looped Thai character under the SIL Open Font License with no conditions attached.

Information verified as of August 2026