Fix Emoji Characters Not Displaying Correctly on Windows 7

emoticonsfontswindows 7

Is there a specific font or something I need to install/download/configure in order to see emoji characters?

Emoji are picture characters/emoticons often used in Japanese webpages and messages.

People can post these from their phones to a site like Twitter, but when I try to read them on my PC (running Windows 7) it doesn't know how to display them.

If there's a reason I can't display them on my machine, is there a reason why not? They're part of unicode, after all.

Best Answer

Microsoft has finally added Emoji (2, at least) to the Segoe UI symbol font in an update to Windows 7.

Microsoft KB2729094 titled “An update for the Segoe UI symbol font in Windows 7 and in Windows Server 2008 R2 is available” is presumed to be made available through Windows Update soon.

This article introduces an update to the Segoe UI symbol font in Windows 7
and in Windows Server 2008 R2. This update adds support for emoji characters
and some control glyphs that are included in Windows 8 and in Windows Server
2012.

Note Emoji characters come from emoji-capable platforms and devices. The 
platforms or devices enable users to easily insert emoji characters into
documents, email messages, or chat conversations by using an emoji picker
feature or an emoji palette feature. In Windows 8 or in Windows Server 2012,
these characters are inserted by using the on-screen keyboard.

Microsoft backports Windows 8 emoji for Segoe UI Symbol to Windows 7

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