Bitstream Charter

Bitstream Charter is a glyphic serif typeface designed by Matthew Carter in 1987 for Bitstream Inc., a digital type foundry. It was optimized for printing on the low-resolution 300 dpi laser printers of the 1980s, but is suitable for printing on both modern high-resolution laser printers and lower resolution inexpensive inkjet printers.

In 1992 Bitstream donated the Charter font, along with its version of Courier, to the X Consortium under terms that allowed modified versions of the font to be redistributed. The copyright Bitstream used to donate Charter is as follows:

© Copyright 1989–1992, Bitstream Inc., Cambridge, MA.

You are hereby granted permission under all Bitstream propriety rights to use, copy, modify, sublicense, sell, and redistribute the 4 Bitstream Charter (r) Type 1 outline fonts and the 4 Courier Type 1 outline fonts for any purpose and without restriction; provided, that this notice is left intact on all copies of such fonts and that Bitstream's trademark is acknowledged as shown below on all unmodified copies of the 4 Charter Type 1 fonts.

BITSTREAM CHARTER is a registered trademark of Bitstream Inc.

This has resulted in derivatives of Bitstream Charter becoming available, including Charis SIL.

The Bitstream Charter typeface is licensed through Bitstream's online interface MyFonts. A new version of the face was released in 2004 with an expanded character set including additional symbols, ranging figures (old-style) and small capitals.