Meiryo was created out of a growing need for legible CJK fonts compatible with Microsoft ClearType's hinting and subpixel rendering system.

To improve readability under small font sizes without using embedded bitmaps, TrueType hinting language was used for stroke-reduction.

Meiryo is developed to comply with JIS X 0213:2004 and can also use the newest set of personal name characters provided by the Japanese Minister of Justice.

In addition, it contains OpenType tables for conversions between the old and new character forms (kyūjitai and shinjitai) introduced in the JIS78, JIS83, and JIS90 standards.

[citation needed] Meiryo supports the following OpenType layout features for Cyrillic, Greek, Han Ideographic, Kana, Latin scripts: nalt, afrc, dnom, dlig, frac, fwid, hwid, hkna, ital, jp78, jp83, jp90, numr, qwid, ruby, sinf, zero, smcp, c2sc, liga, sups, twid, vkna, vrt2, vert, kern.

American Tom Rickner of Ascender Corporation did extensive programming and font hinting for Meiryo.

The font name comes from the Japanese word meiryō (明瞭) [meːɾʲoː], which means "clarity", referring to ClearType making text written in Meiryo appear clearer on the screen.