Charcoal was the default menu font in Apple Computer's Mac OS 8 and 9, replacing the comparatively harder-to-read Chicago as part of the new Platinum interface.

Charcoal is designed for high legibility, even at smaller point sizes, displayed on computer monitors.

Descending characters, g, j, p, q, and y are shallow, compensating for the high x-height, and allowing for reduced leading in text.

Truth, an expanded Charcoal family, is sold by Font Bureau, designed by David Berlow, and was released in 2005.

It contains small differences from Charcoal, and is available in seven weights: Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Black, and Ultra.