Font upload error
I'm getting a font upload error
What can cause this
Your font file is in an unsupported format, not licensed, corrupted, or not fully compatible with Canva.
What to do
- Unsupported format: Make sure your font is in OTF, TTF, or WOFF format.
- Licensing issue: The font should be licensed for embedding. Ask the font provider if you’re unsure or need to get the correct license or file version. Canva doesn’t support Adobe Originals fonts. Font Diner fonts are supported.
- Corrupted file: Your font is unreadable. Download a new copy of your font and upload that instead.
- Font is not fully compatible with Canva: Sometimes a font may successfully upload but will have errors when used in a design. When you download your design, you might see missing letters or the font looks different. Try to upload a different but fully supported font instead.
- Permissions: Only Brand Kit admins and owners can upload fonts.
- File size: Must be under 15 MB.
- Font family grouping: Fonts need the correct internal names to group properly.
- Brand limits: Each Brand Kit supports up to 500 uploaded fonts.
See Setting up and using brand fonts and Upload and Use Brand Kit fonts for more details.
Common font upload errors
Unsupported font file format
Canva doesn’t support .ZIP, .EOT, .SVG, or .WOFF2. Convert your font to .OTF, .TTF, or .WOFF before uploading.
Keep a shared folder of licensed fonts to reduce duplicates and version mismatches.
Invalid or broken font file
If Canva can’t read your font file:
- Download it again from the original source
- Don’t rename it before uploading
- Request an embeddable version from your provider
Upload stuck or not completing
If your upload doesn’t finish:
- Refresh the page
- Use Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari
- Try a smaller file
- Clear browser cache and cookies
Permission denied
Only Brand Kit admins and owners can upload fonts. On Enterprise plans, your admin may have set Brand Controls.
To check your role:
- From the homepage, select your Profile icon.
- Select Settings, then navigate to the People page. On this page, you will see a list of all team members and their assigned roles including yours.
If you’re neither an admin or owner, check in and ask your team with these roles to upload the fonts instead. See Canva Teams, Canva Business, and Canva Enterprise roles and access for more details.
Duplicated font
The font may already exist in the Brand Kit. For new styles (like Bold or Italic), upload them as separate files.
Mismatched metadata
Fonts with incorrect internal names may not group properly.
To fix:
- Check the internal metadata (family and style names)
- Re-download from the provider or request properly named files
- Use a font editor (if licensed) to adjust naming
Fonts from niche sources often have naming issues. Preview the family structure using Font Book (Mac) or FontBase (Windows).
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