Nature of the Business	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Nature of the Business [Abstract]
Nature of the Business	1. Nature of the Business Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc. (the “Company” or “we”) is a leading provider of typefaces, technology and expertise for creative applications and consumer devices. Our end-user and embedded solutions for print, web and mobile environments enable people to create and consume dynamic content on any and every device. The Company’s technologies and fonts enable the display and printing of high quality digital content. Our technologies and fonts have been widely deployed across, and embedded in, a range of consumer electronics, or CE devices, including laser printers, digital copiers, mobile phones, e-book readers, tablets, automotive displays, digital cameras, navigation devices, digital televisions, set-top boxes and consumer appliances, as well as in numerous software applications and operating systems. The Company also provides printer drivers, page description language interpreters, printer user interface technology and color imaging solutions to printer manufacturers and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). We license our text imaging solutions to CE device manufacturers, independent software vendors and creative and business professionals and we are headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. We operate in one business segment: the development, marketing and licensing of technologies and fonts. The Company also maintains various offices worldwide for selling and marketing, research and development and administration. We conduct our operations through three domestic operating subsidiaries, Monotype Imaging Inc., International Typeface Corporation and Bitstream Inc. (“Bitstream”), and five foreign subsidiaries, Monotype Imaging Ltd., Linotype GmbH (“Linotype”), Bitstream India Pvt. Ltd., Monotype Imaging Hong Kong Ltd. and Monotype Imaging KK.

Nature of the Business

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

1. Nature of the Business

Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc. (the “Company” or “we”) is a leading provider of typefaces, technology and expertise for creative applications and consumer devices. Our end-user and embedded solutions for print, web and mobile environments enable people to create and consume dynamic content on any and every device. The Company’s technologies and fonts enable the display and printing of high quality digital content. Our technologies and fonts have been widely deployed across, and embedded in, a range of consumer electronics, or CE devices, including laser printers, digital copiers, mobile phones, e-book readers, tablets, automotive displays, digital cameras, navigation devices, digital televisions, set-top boxes and consumer appliances, as well as in numerous software applications and operating systems. The Company also provides printer drivers, page description language interpreters, printer user interface technology and color imaging solutions to printer manufacturers and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). We license our text imaging solutions to CE device manufacturers, independent software vendors and creative and business professionals and we are headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. We operate in one business segment: the development, marketing and licensing of technologies and fonts. The Company also maintains various offices worldwide for selling and marketing, research and development and administration. We conduct our operations through three domestic operating subsidiaries, Monotype Imaging Inc., International Typeface Corporation and Bitstream Inc. (“Bitstream”), and five foreign subsidiaries, Monotype Imaging Ltd., Linotype GmbH (“Linotype”), Bitstream India Pvt. Ltd., Monotype Imaging Hong Kong Ltd. and Monotype Imaging KK.