Unicode vs Shree Lipi: Which is Better?

For decades, Indian DTP professionals have worked with two very different font systems — Unicode and Shree Lipi. Understanding the difference between them is critical for anyone working in Hindi or Marathi publishing, government documentation, or printing press workflows.

What is Unicode?

Unicode is a universal encoding standard that assigns a unique number to every character across all languages and scripts. In Hindi and Marathi, Unicode text uses fonts like Mangal, Nirmala UI, or Kokila. Unicode text is readable on any device, any operating system, and any browser without requiring a special font to be installed.

What is Shree Lipi?

Shree Lipi is a legacy font system developed by Modular Infotech. It uses ASCII characters to represent Devanagari characters visually. While the text may look like Hindi or Marathi on screen, it is actually stored as English ASCII characters underneath. This means Shree Lipi text is not portable — it only displays correctly when the matching Shree Lipi font is installed.

Key Differences

• Portability: Unicode works everywhere; Shree Lipi requires font installation.
• Web Use: Unicode is the only option for websites and apps; Shree Lipi cannot be used on the web.
• DTP Software: Shree Lipi was the industry standard in CorelDRAW, PageMaker, and Photoshop for many years.
• Government Use: Many state government offices in Eastern India still maintain archives in Shree Lipi format.

Which Should You Use?

For new projects, always use Unicode. For maintaining legacy documents, printing presses, or government office work, Shree Lipi may still be required. That is exactly why our Unicode to Shree Lipi Converter exists — to bridge the gap between these two worlds seamlessly.