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which html fonts are safe to use without loading web fonts?

Trying to cut page weight on a client site and drop google fonts entirely. Is there a list of fonts that look the same on windows, mac and phones? Mainly need one decent sans-serif for body text.
web safe fonts
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andree_51 Nov 06, 2026
sophia.dasy
You can also put system-ui at the front of that stack now, every current browser supports it. For code blocks the same idea works: ui-monospace, Menlo, Consolas, monospace. Safari picks up SF Mono from the first one, Macs fall back to Menlo, Windows to Consolas, and everything else gets the generic monospace.
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smith_ppc Oct 13, 2026
sophia.dasy
just use a system font stack, then every device gets its own native UI font: font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; the old "web safe" list (Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, Georgia, Times New Roman, Courier New) is safe on Windows and mostly on Mac, but Android doesn't ship most of them, so always end with a generic fallback like sans-serif or serif.
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