Replace Ableton Live's UI fonts with accessibility-friendly alternatives. Perfect for users with astigmatism, dyslexia, or anyone who wants improved readability.
Ableton Live uses a custom "AbletonSans" font that can be difficult to read for people with:
- Astigmatism - blurry/distorted vision that makes thin fonts hard to read
- Dyslexia - difficulty distinguishing similar letterforms
- Low vision - need for higher contrast and distinct characters
This tool replaces Ableton's fonts with Atkinson Hyperlegible, a font designed by the Braille Institute specifically for maximum legibility.
- One-command font replacement
- Automatic backup of original fonts
- Easy revert to original fonts
- Support for custom fonts
- Handles macOS code signing automatically
# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/madebycm/ableton-font-replacer.git
cd ableton-font-replacer
# Run the installer
./ableton-font-replace.sh
# Enter your password when prompted for code signingThat's it! Restart Ableton Live to see the new fonts.
# Install Atkinson Hyperlegible (default)
./ableton-font-replace.sh
# Revert to original Ableton fonts
./ableton-font-replace.sh --revert
# Use a custom font
./ableton-font-replace.sh --custom /path/to/your-font.ttf
# List available backups
./ableton-font-replace.sh --list
# Show help
./ableton-font-replace.sh --helpAtkinson Hyperlegible was developed by the Braille Institute and named after its founder, J. Robert Atkinson. It features:
- Distinct letterforms - Characters like I, l, 1 and O, 0 are clearly different
- Open apertures - More space inside letters for better recognition
- Unambiguous design - Every character is uniquely identifiable
- Free and open source - Available under the SIL Open Font License
- Locates your Ableton Live installation
- Downloads Atkinson Hyperlegible font files
- Backs up original fonts to
~/.ableton-font-backup/ - Rewrites font metadata to match Ableton's expected font names
- Replaces the fonts in the app bundle
- Re-signs the application with an ad-hoc signature
- macOS
- Ableton Live 11 or 12
- Python 3 (comes with macOS)
- Administrator privileges (for code signing)
Run the code signing command manually:
sudo codesign --force --deep --sign - "/Applications/Ableton Live 12 Suite.app"- Fully quit Ableton Live (Cmd+Q)
- Clear font caches:
sudo atsutil databases -remove - Restart your Mac
- Reopen Ableton
# First revert to original
./ableton-font-replace.sh --revert
# Then install your custom font
./ableton-font-replace.sh --custom ~/Downloads/Inter-Regular.ttf- Inter - Clean, highly legible sans-serif
- OpenDyslexic - Designed specifically for dyslexia
- Lexie Readable - Another dyslexia-friendly option
MIT License - See LICENSE for details.
Atkinson Hyperlegible is licensed under the SIL Open Font License.
Contributions welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit PRs.
Made with care for the accessibility community.