Anu fonts are a family of legacy Telugu non Unicode fonts built for Telugu publishing, printing, and media, with Anu 6 and Anu 7.0 as the two primary versions. Anu Telugu fonts map Telugu letters onto ASCII slots rather than onto Unicode Telugu code points, which is what makes Anu Script a legacy Telugu encoding rather than a Unicode one.
Anu fonts stay in use because a large volume of Telugu material already exists in them. Newspapers, books, wedding cards, school textbooks, and government records across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were set in Anu Script, and those files still need to be read, edited, reprinted, or converted.
This page covers the difference between Anu 6 and Anu 7.0, how to type Telugu using Anu Script, what Anu Script Manager does, how to type Anu Script Telugu online without installation, and how to convert Anu text to Unicode.
What Are Anu Fonts?
Anu fonts are Telugu display and text fonts that store each Telugu character as an ASCII byte instead of a Unicode code point. Type the letter A with an Anu font active, and a Telugu character appears.
The Byte Never Changes
The byte is still the ASCII value for A. The font decides what that byte looks like on screen, which is the whole basis of code page-based encoding.
Built Before Unicode
Telugu non Unicode encoding of this kind predates broad Unicode support for Indian Languages. Unicode support inside Telugu DTP tools stayed incomplete for years.
A Standard That Stuck
CDAC built the first encoding standards for Indian scripts before the Unicode Consortium covered them fully, and the Anu Script family grew out of that period. Telugu presses adopted it, and the tooling never went away.
Anu 6 and Anu 7 — The Two Main Versions
There are 2 Anu versions in common use.
Anu 6
The earlier mapping. It covers the core Telugu character set and a smaller conjunct range. Older PageMaker and CorelDraw files usually carry it.
Anu 7.0
The later mapping, often written Anu 7. It covers more Telugu conjuncts and ships with recent Anu Script Manager releases. Most Telugu presses standardised on it.
| Telugu | Code point | Anu 6 bytes | Anu 7 bytes |
|---|---|---|---|
| అ | U+0C05 | J | n |
| ఆ | U+0C06 | P | € |
| క | U+0C15 | H› | ¿£ |
| గ | U+0C17 | Q® | >· |
| త | U+0C24 | `Ç | Ôá |
| ప | U+0C2A | „¬ | |Ÿ |
| కా | U+0C15 U+0C3E | Hê | ¿± |
| కి | U+0C15 U+0C3F | H÷ | ¿ì |
| కు | U+0C15 U+0C41 | 䛽 | Å£” |
The Anu 6 Anu 7 difference sits almost entirely in the conjunct range. Base consonants and vowels map to the same ASCII characters in both versions. Conjuncts such as క్ష and జ్ఞ do not, which is why a file set in one version shows wrong characters in the other.
Anu Script vs Unicode Telugu — Key Differences
Anu Script stores Telugu as font-dependent ASCII bytes, and Unicode Telugu stores it as font-independent code points. That single difference drives every consequence below.
Anu Script
Font-dependent bytes. The file carries ASCII values, and only an Anu font turns them into Telugu. Built for PageMaker and CorelDraw, and unreadable anywhere the font is missing.
Unicode Telugu
Font-independent code points. The character identity lives in the text, so the same file reads on Windows, Android, iOS, and the web with any Telugu font installed.
| Attribute | Anu Script | Unicode Telugu |
|---|---|---|
| Font dependency | Needs the Anu font installed to read | Reads on any system with any Telugu font |
| Search | Indexes as Latin noise | Searchable and indexable |
| Range | Reuses the 256 ASCII slots | Telugu block U+0C00–U+0C7F |
| Mixing scripts | Switches meaning when the font changes | Telugu, English, and other Indian Languages in one file |
| Print support | Drives PageMaker and CorelDraw directly | Needs conversion first |
How to Type Telugu with Anu Script
To type Telugu with Anu Script, install an Anu font, apply it to your text, and type using the Anu keyboard layout. The keys produce Latin characters in the file and Telugu characters on screen.
Anu Script Keyboard Layout
The Anu keyboard layout is phonetic against the ASCII positions rather than against Telugu sounds. Each Telugu consonant, vowel, and matra occupies a fixed key, and conjuncts are built by combining keys in sequence.
Typing this way requires learning the layout. Operators in Telugu print shops know it by memory, which is one reason the workflow persists. A newcomer usually finds Unicode Telugu typing faster to learn, then converts the result.
Anu Script Telugu Typing Online (Without Installation)
To type Anu Script Telugu online without installing anything, type in Unicode Telugu first and convert the result to Anu Script. The route has 3 steps.
Type in Unicode
Use the built-in keyboard on Windows 10 and later, Android, or iOS, or use Google Input Tools in the browser.
Paste into the Unicode to Non Unicode converter
Drop that Unicode text into the tool above with the direction set to Unicode → Anu.
Convert and place
Convert to Anu 6 or Anu 7.0 and paste the output into your layout application.
Anu Script Manager — What It Does
Anu Script Manager (ASM) is the commercial software package that installs the Anu font family and its keyboard layouts on Windows.
Fonts
Bundles the Anu 6 and Anu 7.0 font files used across Telugu print production.
Keyboard driver
Maps physical keys to Anu positions so operators can type Telugu directly inside DTP applications.
No conversion
ASM handles typing and display. It does not convert between encodings, which is the gap an Anu font converter fills.
Popular tools in Telugu DTP pair Anu Script Manager for input with a separate converter for moving text in and out of Unicode.
Which Anu Font Version Should You Use?
Use Anu 7.0 for new work, and use Anu 6 only when an existing file already carries it. Anu 7.0 has the wider conjunct coverage and matches what most presses expect to receive.
How to Convert Anu Fonts to Unicode
To convert Anu font text to Unicode, copy the text out of your document, paste it into the converter with the Anu → Unicode direction selected, pick the matching Anu version, and convert.
Open the converter
Use the tool above, or the converter on the home page.
Set the direction
Switch to Anu → Unicode.
Match the version
Pick Anu 6 or Anu 7 to match the source font.
Convert & Copy
Paste the Anu Script text and click Convert & Copy.
Check the output
View the Unicode output in Pothana2000 or Gautami.
Converting the other way is the same tool with the direction reversed. The Unicode to Anu direction is covered on its own page.
Conclusion
Anu fonts are legacy Telugu non Unicode fonts built for publishing, printing, and media, and Anu 6 and Anu 7.0 are the two versions that matter. They persist because decades of Telugu newspapers, books, and government records were set in them.
Anu Script Manager installs the fonts and keyboard for typing. This site handles the encoding side: convert Anu text to Unicode, or Unicode text to Anu, with the tool above. Read Unicode vs Non Unicode for the encoding model underneath both.