### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2026, 1:29pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/1 "2026-05-23T13:29:39Z")
Opening [this album](https://musicbrainz.org/release/ffb1c808-7e37-4415-9449-9cd839545dfb) in Mp3tag (via Wine) reveals a display issue.
`２８１４` is displayed correctly in the window title and the title of the Extended Tags window, but nowhere else.
Copying those squares into an [unicode character identifier](https://babelstone.co.uk/Unicode/whatisit.html) shows that the values are correct:
So my first guess is that Mp3tag defaults to a font without CJK support in Wine. Which font does it try to use by default? Perhaps it can be supplied via `winetricks` or installed on the host system?
Update:
While searching for solutions I found a matching [Wine issue](https://forum.winehq.org/viewtopic.php?t=39019) from 2024.
---
### Author:  [@AreDigg](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/AreDigg)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/2 "2026-05-23T14:48:36Z")
It is some time since I used Wine, but you have to install Unicode fonts, those are not included. Which one depends which Windows you emulate, with winetricks you can use allfonts which should solve it for most cases.
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### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/3 "2026-05-23T17:32:11Z")
> [@AreDigg](#):
>
> with winetricks you can use allfonts which should solve it for most cases
The Wine issue I referenced already stated that installing `allfonts` via `winetricks` did not resolve the issue.
To be sure, I just installed `allfonts` for my Mp3tag prefix and it changed nothing.
I had similar problems with MusicBee in Wine, despite having installed `allfonts`.
Finding a font available to MusicBee that is able to display Japanese and Korean symbols at the same time was fruitless.
In the end I installed [Sarasa Gothic](https://github.com/be5invis/Sarasa-Gothic) on the host. Since Wine has access to the host fonts, I was able to simply select that in MusicBee after restarting Wine and all my problems went away.
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2026, 6:29pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/4 "2026-05-23T18:29:49Z")
Can you try the
`HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\Fonts\Replacements`
registry key, where you could map an existing font to a CJK-alternative?
Here is the documentation of the registry key
> **[Useful Registry Keys · Wiki · wine / wine · GitLab](https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/wikis/Useful-Registry-Keys)**
>
> Wine development tree
and here an example found out in the wild
>
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### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/5 "2026-05-23T18:41:39Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> Can you try the
>
> `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\Fonts\Replacements`
>
> registry key, where you could map an existing font to a CJK-alternative?
I'll give it a shot. Which font do I need to replace/overwrite? ` ̶M̶S̶ ̶U̶I̶ ̶G̶o̶t̶h̶i̶c̶` wasn't it.
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/6 "2026-05-23T18:54:29Z")
I'd try
- Segoe UI
- Tahoma
- MS Shell Dlg
- MS Shell Dlg 2
I'm only guessing here, but those are the standard Windows UI fonts that are used nowadays.
It's possible that you need to restart Wine via `wineserver -k` to make it pick up the changes.
---
### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2026, 7:06pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/7 "2026-05-23T19:06:05Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> It's possible that you need to restart Wine via `wineserver -k` to make it pick up the changes.
Did that at first and then I even restarted my entire PC to make sure.
assuming I created these correctly, so far none of them were the one.
Wine is aware of the target font so that part ought to be correct.
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2026, 8:34pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/8 "2026-05-23T20:34:19Z")
You'd need to use the source font name as name of the key and the replacement font name as value, e.g.,
`Tahoma` = `Noto Sans CJK JP`
---
### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/9 "2026-05-23T23:26:05Z")
Pity that I didn't try it on Fedora first. That would've spared me the embarrassing syntax mistake since there were already a few font replacement registry entries present.
So far, replacing `MS UI Gothic` works, but only partially.
While the tags are correctly displayed in the columns and the extended tags, they remain squares in the tag panel (at least the Japanese) and even the properly displayed values in the columns (and extended tags) instantly turn to squares when I try to edit them.
`MS UI Gothic` = `Sarasa UI CL`
and
`MS UI Gothic` = `Noto Sans CJK JP`
behave the same way in this regard.
> [@Florian](#):
>
> `Tahoma` = `Noto Sans CJK JP`
Replacing Tahoma did nothing for me.
Was that the only font you replaced?
I've tried these (only MS UI Gothic) led to changes):
Anyhow, thank you very much for all the help!
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 5:40am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/10 "2026-05-24T05:40:09Z")
I've only replaced Tahoma and it worked right away. It's the font that is used as an example at winecfg's Graphics tab to display an example of the screen resolution.
I'm using Fedora 44 with Wine 11.0 (Staging)
The only thing font-related I've noticed is the **4** that's shown as label of the field and format helper menus. I'm using the `Marlett` font internally, that usually renders this character as 🞂
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### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 7:52am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/11 "2026-05-24T07:52:58Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> I'm using Fedora 44 with Wine 11.0 (Staging)
Odd, my HTPC uses the exact same.
I haven't touched the host font settings:
However there were already a few font replacements present in Wine.
Replacing `MS UI Gothic` with `Sarasa UI CL` or `Noto Sans CJK JP` yields identical results as on CachyOS (display usually correct until I edit, then squares).
> [@Florian](#):
>
> It's the font that is used as an example at winecfg's Graphics tab to display an example of the screen resolution.
It's also used for that on my systems, but replacing `Tahoma` changes nothing.
My main OS:
Font settings:
I'd love a wildcard registry entry that simply replaces all fonts with the target font.
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 9:21am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/12 "2026-05-24T09:21:13Z")
Maybe
`HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes`
also plays into this? I had entries for `MS Shell Dlg` and `MS Shell Dlg 2` mapped to `Tahoma` there, and removing those made the boxes reappear (most likely because Wine Replacements `Tahoma` wasn't mapped to `Noto Sans CJK JP` anymore).
---
### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 9:32am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/13 "2026-05-24T09:32:31Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes
That registry key looks like this on CachyOS.
I can confirm that changing the `Tahoma` value here makes the squares reappear in Mp3tag. But replacing `MS Shell Dlg`/`MS Shell Dlg 2` with `Sarasa UI CL` instead of `Tahoma` here doesn't work either.
---
### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 9:44am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/14 "2026-05-24T09:44:19Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes
Disregard my last comment. That was on point.
Adding a replacement for Tahoma resolved the issues. Now Mp3tag displays the correct characters in every context.
I still find it odd though that I had to perform 2 replacements while for your case, one sufficed.
Once I've confirmed that this works the same way on my Fedora host I'll finalize my `Mp3tag on Linux` notes. Can I post that guide in the #Howto category or would you prefer #General Discussion ?
Anyhow, thanks a lot for your help! One step closer to permanently ditching Windows.
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 9:50am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/15 "2026-05-24T09:50:04Z")
Glad it’s working now 😅 Something worth noting is, that it probably doesn’t show Arabic characters when a CJK font is configured.
> [@Casual\_Tea](#):
>
> I'll finalize my `Mp3tag on Linux` notes. Can I post that guide in the #Howto category or would you prefer #General Discussion ?
#Howto is perfect!
---
### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 9:56am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/16 "2026-05-24T09:56:00Z")
> [@Casual\_Tea](#):
>
> I still find it odd though that I had to perform 2 replacements while for your case, one sufficed.
Interesting:
I still had some leftover replacements in
`HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\Fonts\Replacements`
When I removed all of them, I once again had squares, but only in editing fields.
After re-adding them 1 by 1 it turns out that `MS Shell Dlg 2` also needed to be replaced:
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 9:59am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/17 "2026-05-24T09:59:31Z")
> [@Casual\_Tea](#):
>
> After re-adding them 1 by 1 it turns out that `MS Shell Dlg 2` also needed to be replaced
I think this also was needed in my configuration, but since it was mapped to Tahoma in HKLM, it was then handled by Wine’s Tahoma replacement.
---
### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 10:00am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/18 "2026-05-24T10:00:45Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> Something worth noting is, that it probably doesn’t show Arabic characters when a CJK font is configured.
Do you have examples? I think the only Arabic tags I have are in this, which seems to work.
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 10:02am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/19 "2026-05-24T10:02:23Z")
I’m seeing crossed squares at Options \> Languages for some localizations.
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### Author:  [@Casual\_Tea](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Casual_Tea)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 10:07am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330/20 "2026-05-24T10:07:51Z")
With `Sarasa UI CL`, the only ones with crossed squares are Armenian, Hebrew and Tamil.
With `Noto Sans CJK JP` it's Armenian, Greek, Hebrew, Tamil and Vietnamese.
Would be nice to have a font that can handle all of them but now that we know where and what to replace, it should be possible to find one.
[Next page](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/linux-make-mp3tag-use-cjk-font/71330.md?page=2)