Microsoft open sources its Windows 11 emoji for everyone to use

[javajolt]

Microsoft introduced a complete suite of emojis in Windows 11 that was built upon the Fluent design style, and from what we can tell, these emojis look pretty good. Now, the folks at Microsoft decided that it would be a good idea if everyone has the chance to use the emoji suite outside of the Windows 11 platform.

From what we’ve gathered, the company chose to make the entire emoji suite open source. That is great news because the Microsoft emoji suite has a total of 1,538 items to choose from. So, if you want to incorporate any one of them in a logo or whatever else, then this can be done free of charge.

Microsoft open sources its Windows 11 emoji

One of the impressive things about the emojis Microsoft brought to the forefront back in 2021, is that they come in multiple variants. For example, we like the ones that come with 3D effects, along with flat variants, and the ones used in the Skype replacement, Microsoft Teams.

Furthermore, we should point out that Microsoft is making them available in different formats such as SVG, PNG, and JPG, so it shouldn’t be overly difficult for most people to use them for whatever reasons they wish. Interestingly enough, monochrome versions are available as well, so there’s that.

Some emojis are not available to be shared

Now, not everything is good news here, and that’s OK from our point of view. You see, not all Microsoft emojis can be shared due to existing trademarks. For example, the Clippy emoji and the work-from-home emoji the software giant introduced back in 2021. The primary reason they cannot be used is that they include the Windows logo, and as you might have expected, the Microsoft logo is protected by licenses.

Outside of those two emojis, everything else is free to take advantage of at any time, anywhere.

Going forward, we should expect more things like this from Microsoft as the company has reaffirmed its belief in a culture that is open. We will definitely discuss whatever else the software giant chooses to make open source in the future, hopefully not far from now.

As for where folks can find the Microsoft open source emojis for download, well, navigate to the official page on GitHub. The entire emoji set is available there right now.

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