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Nexrender automatically resolves fonts for most render jobs - you rarely need to list fonts explicitly in the job payload. Understanding how this works will help you avoid the edge cases where font rendering can go wrong.

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How Automatic Font Resolution Works

When you upload a template, After Effects performs introspection and reports which fonts are referenced in the project. Nexrender records these as part of the template metadata. When a job is submitted, the following happens:
  1. Nexrender identifies which fonts were reported as missing during template introspection.
  2. The font bank is searched for any fonts that closely match - by family name, PostScript name, filename, and other attributes/
  3. Any fonts explicitly listed in the job’s fonts array are added to this set.
  4. The render worker downloads and installs all potentially matching fonts before After Effects starts.
  5. After Effects resolves the fonts on its own and performs the render.

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The fonts Array Is Optional

In the majority of jobs, you do not need to specify fonts at all. The system matches uploaded fonts against what the template needs automatically. Only add a fonts array if you need to force-include a specific file that auto-resolution isn’t picking up: 
{
  "fonts": ["Montserrat-SemiBold.ttf"]
}

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Critical: Always Use the Original Font Files

Always upload the exact font files that were bundled with your After Effects project. Do not download fonts from external sources (Google Fonts, other marketplaces) as a substitute.
Font matching is based on metadata - family name, PostScript name, and other attributes. Two files with the same family name from different sources can have different metrics, hinting, kerning tables, or OpenType features. Even if Nexrender matches the font correctly by name, After Effects may render text with slightly different spacing, weight, or layout compared to what the template author saw. This means:
  • A font downloaded from Google Fonts is not the same as the same-named font bundled with an .aep project from a type foundry
  • A different cut or version of the same typeface may cause subtle but visible differences - Layout shifts and unexpected line breaks are the most common result
  • Customer is responsible for providing the authentic, original font files. If renders look correct in your local After Effects but wrong in Nexrender output, mismatched font files are the first thing to check.