JetBrains Mono is available as a standalone download, and is also bundled in all JetBrains IDEs. Discover more font features & design on its [web page](https://jetbrains.com/mono/).
Default version of JetBrains Mono comes with OpenType features and ligatures (which can always be toggled on & off in the settings). If your IDE doesn’t support OpenType, use a special version of the font — [JetBrains Mono NL](https://github.com/JetBrains/JetBrainsMono/tree/master/fonts/ttf), which doesn’t include any ligatures.
Select JetBrains Mono in the IDE settings: go to `Preferences/Settings` → `Editor` → `Font`, and then select JetBrains Mono from the **Font** dropdown.
1. From the **File** menu (**Code** on Mac) go to `Preferences` → `Settings, or use keyboard shortcut <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>,</kbd> (<kbd>Cmd</kbd>+<kbd>,</kbd> on Mac).
2. In the E**ditor: Font Family** input box type `JetBrains Mono`, replacing any content.
3. To enable ligatures, go to **Editor: Font Ligatures**, click **Edit in settings.json**, and copy this line `"editor.fontLigatures": true` into json file.
While characters remain standard in width, the height of the lowercase is maximized. This approach keeps code lines to the length that developers expect, and it helps improve rendering in small size, since each symbol occupies more pixels.
A ligature is a character consisting of two or more joined symbols. Traditionally, it was introduced as a space-saving technique in printed texts. In code, this technique is adopted to show operators and is used mainly for two purposes:
1. To **reduce noise** by merging symbols and removing details so the eyes are processing less:
📝 Note: if your IDE doesn’t support OpenType features and ligatures, use [JetBrains Mono NL](https://github.com/JetBrains/JetBrainsMono/tree/master/fonts/ttf) instead.
## Basic Character Set
![Alt text](images/character-set@2x.png)
You can find full JetBrains Mono character set on our [wiki page](https://github.com/JetBrains/JetBrainsMono/wiki/List-of-supported-symbols).
JetBrains Mono typeface is available under the [OFL-1.1 License](https://github.com/JetBrains/JetBrainsMono/blob/master/OFL.txt) and can be used free of charge, for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. You do not need to give credit to JetBrains, although we will appreciate it very much if you do.