Which Google font supplies color glyphs for emoji characters?

The Google font that supplies color glyphs for emoji characters is Noto Color Emoji.

It belongs to Google’s Noto project, whose name references the goal of preventing “tofu”—empty boxes that appear when a system lacks a glyph. Noto Color Emoji is an open-source font designed to cover Unicode emoji and includes colorful artwork rather than ordinary monochrome outlines.

The font uses the CBDT/CBLC color-font format, which stores bitmap color glyph data. Support varies by operating system and application, so the same Unicode emoji may look different—or appear monochrome—on another device. Fonts provide the glyph artwork; Unicode defines the characters and sequences being represented.

A common mix-up is confusing Noto Color Emoji with Google’s text fonts, such as Roboto or Product Sans. Those fonts are not the project’s dedicated color emoji font. Another neighboring fact is that Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, and other platforms use their own emoji designs, even when they support the same Unicode characters.