LXGW WenKai Lite
LXGW / Fontworks Inc. · A lightweight Chinese typeface family with proportional and monospaced styles in Light, Regular, and Medium weights.
LXGW WenKai Lite is a font you can install on a Mac. It is free to use.
About
LXGW WenKai Lite is a reduced edition of LXGW WenKai, intended in part for embedding in apps. This Homebrew cask installs six TrueType font files: proportional LXGWWenKaiLite and monospaced LXGWWenKaiMonoLite, each in Light, Regular, and Medium weights. It installs font files, not an application.
The Lite edition omits some less-common Chinese characters and Hangul characters present in the full edition. The project describes coverage across several Chinese character standards and regional character sets; this does not mean every listed character set is included in full. The GB variant’s documented Unicode variation sequence support is not evidence of that feature in this Lite cask.
Install with brew install --cask font-lxgw-wenkai-lite. After installation, select the desired installed font in an application that supports user-installed fonts. Choose a LXGWWenKaiMonoLite face for monospaced use, such as in a compatible editor or terminal; the LXGWWenKaiLite faces are proportional.
The project identifies the font as licensed under SIL Open Font License 1.1. The repository explains that the Lite edition may lack some uncommon characters within the GB 18030-2022 Level 2 range; use the full edition if those characters are needed.
Sources: Project
New What’s new in 1.530 OpenNavo editorial
Adjusts existing Chinese glyphs and adds characters and variation sequences introduced in Unicode 18.0. Adds dice and mahjong symbols, additional Latin combinations, and the fwid feature for selected full-width characters. Repositions and resizes the LXGW logo glyph. The exact glyph lists and variant-specific changes are documented in this font's official 1.530 release.
Install and uninstall
Homebrew installs the font in ~/Library/Fonts, where Font Book can use it.
Install without Homebrew
Download the same file Homebrew uses: github.com/lxgw/LxgwWenKai-Lite/releases/download/v1.530/lxgw-wenkai-lite-v1.530.zip
SHA-256 only checks that the download is complete; it is not a security certification. See the SHA-256 and download address
$ brew uninstall --cask \font-lxgw-wenkai-liteA regular uninstall removes the app and keeps its settings and caches.
Facts and sources
- Price
- Free github.com/lxgw/LxgwWenKai-Lite/blob/HEAD/README.mdChecked Oct 17
- Version 1.530
- Recorded by Homebrew on Oct 17
Questions
Is LXGW WenKai Lite safe?
LXGW WenKai Lite is in Homebrew’s official catalog and has not been disabled. Since September 2026, Homebrew disables apps that fail macOS Gatekeeper checks. When installing, Homebrew checks the download from github.com against its SHA-256 checksum. It was installed 5 times through Homebrew in the last 30 days.
Is LXGW WenKai Lite free?
Yes, LXGW WenKai Lite is free to use. Source: github.com/lxgw/LxgwWenKai-Lite/blob/HEAD/README.md, checked Oct 17.
How do I completely uninstall LXGW WenKai Lite on a Mac?
Run brew uninstall --cask font-lxgw-wenkai-lite.
What is the latest version of LXGW WenKai Lite?
The latest version is 1.530, added to Homebrew on Oct 17. Run brew upgrade --cask font-lxgw-wenkai-lite to update it.