Unicode Fonts Hack

UFHack is a hack for Amazon Kindle 2 (including the international version) and Amazon Kindle DX (including the international version) that allows replacing default Kindle fonts with different ones, including fonts that support broader range of characters like Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese, etc. Hack comes in a form of manually installable patch and is fully reversible. Source code is included so you can customize the hack. If you do, please let me know and I’ll host or link to the modified version as I’m sure that one size doesn’t fit all.

This hack doesn’t work on Kindle 1 – check the link at the end of the page for alternate solutions.

Important!:

  • Use this hack and instructions at your own risk after reading ALL OF THEM carefully! Although I tested it to the best of my ability on my own devices I can’t guarantee that it will work on yours and will not be responsible for any damage (including completely and irreversibly bricking your device) it may have caused!
  • This hack works on Kindle 2 (incuding the international version) and DX. For Kindle 1 you’ll need a different one. If you are not sure which version you have it’s best not to mess with it all.
  • Having this hack installed will cause installation of official Amazon.com updates to fail. This is normal. You’ll need to reverse the hack (see instuctions below), install the Amazon.com update manually and then reapply the hack.

In theory this hack should work with any version of Kindle software. However, I’ve only tested it with 2.5.2 and 2.5.3. I strongly advice you to update your Kindle to the latest software version before installing this hack. This is something you should be doing anyway.

Before installing this hack you will need to “jailbreak” your Kindle – see instructions below!

There are several versions of this hack. Functionally they are identical but they are prepacked with different sets of fonts:

kindle-ufhack-v03-gnu-free-font-serif

kindle-ufhack-v03-gnu-free-font-sans

  • Droid Fallback Fonts (recommened for Asian glyphs) – this hack uses open-source Droid fallback font that is part of Google Android platform. Unfortunately styles and typefaces are missing completely. You’ll only get regular Sans Serif. The upside is the broadest character support. It supports Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese and a bunch of other languages. This font also looks very good on the Kindle screen (in my opinion way better than native Kindle fonts). This is the patch I currently have installed on my Kindle 2. Here are download links:

kindle-ufhack-v01-droid

kindle-ufhack-v03-droid-serif

kindle-ufhack-v03-droid-sans
Installing the hack:

  1. Download appropriate jailbreak package for your Kindle:
  2. Connect your Kindle via USB cable and copy the jailbreak package into the root directory of Kindle drive
  3. Use menus to initiate manual update installation: Press “Home” to fo to the home screen, press “Menu” and select “Settings”, press “Menu” again and select “Update Your Kindle”, press the 5-way controller once more to confirm the update. If “Update Your Kindle” is disabled make sure that update version corresponds to your version of Kindle.
  4. The installer will run and report a failure. This is expected and normal. After your Kindle reboots it will be jailbroken and you would be able to install custom hacks (including UFH)
  5. If you have another version of Unicode Font Hack installed – uninstall it first (instructions can be found below). If you do not the fonts may not change.
  6. Download appropriate update file from one of the links above.
  7. Connect your Kindle 2/DX to your PC via USB cable.
  8. Copy *install*.bin  file that corresponds the the desired font family and your device version into the root of your Kindle USB drive.
  9. Use menus to initiate manual update installation: Press “Home” to fo to the home screen, press “Menu” and select “Settings”, press “Menu” again and select “Update Your Kindle”, press the 5-way controller once more to confirm the update. If “Update Your Kindle” is disabled make sure that update version corresponds to your version of Kindle. For Kindle DX you should use _dx.bin files.
  10. Your Kindle Kindle 2/DX will switch through several update screens and then reboot.
  11. Once it reboots, you can test that the hack installed properly and works:
    1. First of all you should see apparent change in all of the fonts if you didn’t install browser-only update.
    2. press “Menu”, select “Settings”. In the bottom portion of the settings page you should see Kindle software version and “+ UFHack 0.3”.
    3. Start web browser and open http://www.wikipedia.org/ – you should see Russian text in the bottom left rather than boxes with question marks. If you used droid patch – Japanese characters in the upper-left will also display.
    4. And of course you can now copy books in different languages and start reading them.
  12. Connect your Kindle Kindle 2/DX to your PC via USB cable and copy *.orig files from the root directory to a safe location. Normally you’ll not need these to reverse the hack but it’s good to keep a copy of these just in case.

kindle-ufhack-v03-version

Uninstalling the hack:

  1. Connect your Kindle 2/DX to your PC via USB cable.
  2. Download file that corresponds to your device and copy it to the root directory of your Kindle drive. It doesn’t matter if you have droid or liberation hack installed. The uninstaller would remove either one.
  3. If you have UFH 0.3 for Kindle 2.3 installed use these (old) uninstallers:
  4. If you have UFH 0.1 or 0.2 installed you should use the oldest uninstaller from one of the following links:
  5. Optionally but highly recommended: use “Safely Remove Hardware” to “eject” Kindle 2/DX. In order for this to work you need to close all Windows Explorer and other file manager windows that display contents of Kindle drive.
  6. Use menus to initiate manual update installation: Press “Home” to fo to the home screen, press “Menu” and select “Settings”, press “Menu” again and select “Update Your Kindle”, press the 5-way controller once more to confirm the update.
  7. Your Kindle 2/DX will switch through several update screens and then reboot.
  8. Once it reboots, you can test that the hack installed properly and works: there should be no “+ UFHack 0.1” in the version string at the bottom of settings screen, fonts should be back to normal with boxed question marks displayed instead of unicode symbols.
  9. Unicode font files are not deleted from Kindle but should cause no problems. If you would like to delete them – contact me and I’ll provide a separate patch for that.
  10. You may also want to uninstall “jailbreak” package so that you can install official Kindle updates. Please use appropriate uninstaller from the following list:

Known issues:

  1. There is not perfect one-size fit all font that would preserve styles and display all characters and look nice at the same time. Finding one that is free proved to be more difficult than creating the patch. If you find such a font or even a paid one for which redistribution rights will not cost a small fortune – let me know and I’ll try to arrange a patch with that font.
  2. Unicode titles of .mobi and .prc books will display like garbage. This is not an issue with the hack or the fonts. Amazon eBook reader appliation assumes these fields to be ASCII rather than Unicode so they’ll not display correctly no matter what fonts until Amazon fixes this.

Using your own fonts:

  1. Once again I’ll stress that this is done at your own risk. Using corrupted font files in the reader app will likely brick your Kindle entirely. If you don’t know what are you doing – don’t do it!
  2. In order to roll your own Kindle updates you’ll need to have Python installed. One from ActiveState will do nicely.
  3. In the source code of the hack (you can download it here) you’ll find font files, update scripts and other related stuff. Feel free to look into any of it.
  4. To use your own fonts you need to replace the ones in /custom folder (preserving the file names!) and then run build-updates.cmd. This will generate installer .bin files for all versions of Amazon Kindle.
  5. If you use your own fonts it would be a good idea to test the browser-only update first. Keep in mind that browser-only update uses only Serif*.ttf fonts. So you will want to replace them with the ones that you are testing regardless of the actual typography. Replace all of the files even if you are using same font file.
  6. To uninstall use one of the standard uninstallers provided here.

Good luck and enjoy!

Please spread the word about this hack as it will increase chances of someone finding better fonts that can be used with it.

If you are interested in changing fonts on Kindle 1 – read this thread.

366 thoughts on “Unicode Fonts Hack”

  1. SZ says:

    Same question as JW’s – I have 2.5 update on my Kindle 2, serial # B002. Tried 2 times to install update_ufh_gnufreefont_sans_install-k2.bin – nothing happened. Or what do i do wrong – I did everything as described step by step. Please, help somebody!

  3. Kan says:

    Could you please develop a new version of UHF for the lastest 2.5 firmware? I am a chinese and really like your work. Thank you~

  7. ruitao says:

    Hi, I have update my kindle to 2.5.2, but I cannot use this hack, update unsuccessfully。

    I use this path：update_ufh_droid_install-k2i.bin

  10. admin says:

    Sorry to tell you this, but none of my Kindles updated to 2.5.* so far. Partially it’s because two of them are now have software for Kindle SDK that I’m working with right now. If someone at mobileread or similar place were to update the hack, let me know and I’ll put a link to it. But at the moment, I just can not provide the hack myself.

  13. Eldar says:

    Can’t read my Russian ebooks any more on Kindle after udate :( Please, please, Admin! We are waiting for new font hack! :) And support you!

  14. Eddie says:

    Amazon just released download for 2.5.2. Hope that you can find some time to update this hack. It’s really a nice hack and I would like to keep using it on 2.5.2.^_^

  17. Kwan says:

    Hi, I’ve installed hack on my old kindle to read chinese. But fortunately the screen was broken and I need to send it back to have a replacement for free . I want to uninstall the hack before sending it back to amazon but I can’t switch it on to change the setting. Can I just delete the hack file from the root directory or what should I do for a better uninstall? Many thanks.

  18. admin says:

    Kwan, you actually need to run the uninstall update to remove the hack. Files in the root directory are for debugging purposes only and deleting them doesn’t remove the hack

  21. Tofutie says:

    I have UFH 0.3 installed but I want to update to 2.5 on my international Kindle 2. When I try to uninstall UFH using either of the uninstall files (new and old) I get an unable to update error. Is there something I need to do other than update with the uninstall file?

    Thanks,
    Tofutie

  22. Matt says:

    I have problem to uninstall the old ufh hack 0.3 by using the uninstallation bin provide above. It just would not proceed. Can someone help? I’m using 2.3.3 (431100003) + UFH 0.3 US K2. Thanks

  24. Lhagvasuren says:

    I’m from Mongolia, Thank you very very much. Merci beaucoup. Маш их баярлалаа.

  25. yuejun says:

    hi,
    My kindle2 international has version 2.3(399380047)+UFH0.3. I want to uninstall UFH0.3. I downloaded update_ufh_uninstall-k2i.bin and followed the steps. But kindle restarted and said the update failed. Any idea?

  26. Sam J. Zoe says:

    It’s very helpful to me. I’m using 2.5.2 + UFH 0.3 to view Korean and Chinese .txt or .mobi files. Many many thanks to you!

  27. YUEN says:

    Cannot uninstall early unicode font hack file for K2i in OS 2.52
    Hi , I am a Hong Kong People and use Kindle 2i with unicode font hack(early version) , after the kindle OS update to 2.5.2 , I find that I can jailbreak the kindle 2 international with a jailbreak file , and still continue to install the old version unicode font hack, but now I found that I cannot update automatically and wirelessly though amazon server ( to 2.53) , and besides , I cannot uninstall the unicode font hack ( even using the new uninstaller provide by blogkindle), can someone provide a way for me to refresh the kindle firmware in order to uninstall all the old hack file from kindle and then let me to upgrade to the new kindle 2.5.3 OS and install the new unicode hack which will work in 2.53?

    Moreover , the new unicode font hack is ready , I hope to install this hack but now I can’t uninstall the old hack file , before install the new version, can someone provide a way for us to really hard reset the kindle 2 international and make it really become the factory default?

  28. admin says:

    The fact that new uninstaller will not work with older version of the hack slipped my mind. I’ve published links to the old uninstaller.

    BTW, it’s always a good practice to download the uninstaller along with the installer and keep it in the safe place.

    While I will put my best effort in keeping this website online, one can never know…

  29. TomF says:

    “Cannot uninstall early unicode font hack file for K2i in OS 2.52” YUEN

    I had the same problem when I downloaded the latest uninstall here. I had a copy of the unistall that I had downloaded earlier, that worked fine. It would appear to be the same, but there must be some difference. I will not post that file since it is probably something for admin to post if need be.

  33. Jerry says:

    I can not revert the UFH 0.3 for Kindle 2 international V2.3 either. It always displayed error and told to contact their customer service. I found the downloaded update_ufh_uninstall-k2i.bin has only 4K of size. Is this normal to have such small file size ?

    Thanks,

    Jerry

  34. al3bsi says:

    why you dont answer me Mr.admin ??

    “i want arabic font to support book list

    my kindle dx 2.5.2 ver”

    how i can make it ???

  36. k75rider says:

    Hi

    I am a Japanese and installed droid fonts hack to my 2.5.3 firmware.

    Installation itself has no problem.
    It does work for Japanese web site.
    However, it does not work for Japanese pdf documents.
    My Kindle is global wireless version.

    Is there any suggestion?

  37. admin says:

    I don’t think that you need the hack for Unicode to work properly created PDF documents. It should not affect them

  39. Loshia says:

    I cannot see the uninstall “jailbreak” packages list. How can I remove the jailbreak hack from my 2.3 Kindle in order to apply the official 2.5 patch?

  40. admin says:

    for 2.3 hacks the jailbreak was integrated into the package itself – there is no need for separate uninstaller

  44. Ian says:

    I just got the Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 9.7″ Display, Graphite, 3G Works Globally – Latest Generation. The first 4 symbols of serial number are B009. The software version is 2.5.5
    By the way, the serial number is no longer shown on the back of the device, but in the lower part of the setings page. Can you comment if your hack can be used in this version? Thnaks for your great efforts for this community.

  47. Adele says:

    Hi, Admin, can this fonts-hack be used on the new Kindle Dx Graphite ?
    The serial number begins with B009, firmware 2.5.5
    Thanks.

  49. YUEN says:

    Cannot uninstall early unicode font hack file for K2i in OS 2.52
    Hi , I am a Hong Kong People and use Kindle 2i with unicode font hack(early version) , after the kindle OS update to 2.5.2 , I find that I can jailbreak the kindle 2 international with a jailbreak file , and still continue to install the old version unicode font hack, but now I found that I cannot update automatically and wirelessly though amazon server ( to 2.53) , and besides , I cannot uninstall the unicode font hack ( even using the new uninstaller provide by blogkindle), can someone provide a way for me to refresh the kindle firmware in order to uninstall all the old hack file from kindle and then let me to upgrade to the new kindle 2.5.3 OS and install the new unicode hack which will work in 2.53?

    Moreover , the new unicode font hack is ready , I hope to install this hack but now I can’t uninstall the old hack file , before install the new version, can someone provide a way for us to really hard reset the kindle 2 international and make it really become the factory default?

    Read more: http://blogkindle.com/unicode-fonts-hack/#ixzz0tVo9Cp87

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