... BufferedImage bufferedImage = new BufferedImage ( 2 /* dummy */, 2 /* dummy */, BufferedImage.TYPE_4BYTE_ABGR_PRE ); Graphics2D g2d = ( Graphics2D)( bufferedImage.createGraphics() ); FontRenderContext fr = g2d.getFontRenderContext(); LineMetrics lm = font.getLineMetrics( sampleText, fr ); float ascent = lm.getAscent(); float descent = lm.getDescent(); float height = lm.getHeight();