diff --git a/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Font.cpp b/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Font.cpp
index 05dbe44baf..b08cd2cdf0 100644
--- a/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Font.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Font.cpp
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ class Font::SharedFontInternal  : public ReferenceCountedObject
 {
 public:
     explicit SharedFontInternal (FontOptions x)
-        : options (std::move (x))
+        : options (x.getName().isEmpty() ? x.withName (getDefaultSansSerifFontName()) : std::move (x))
     {
     }
 
@@ -256,6 +256,7 @@ public:
     String getTypefaceName() const             { return options.getName(); }
     String getTypefaceStyle() const            { return options.getStyle(); }
     float getHeight() const                    { return options.getHeight(); }
+    float getPointHeight() const               { return options.getPointHeight(); }
     float getHorizontalScale() const           { return options.getHorizontalScale(); }
     float getKerning() const                   { return options.getKerningFactor(); }
     bool getUnderline() const                  { return options.getUnderline(); }
@@ -300,6 +301,12 @@ public:
         options = options.withHeight (x);
     }
 
+    void setPointHeight (float x)
+    {
+        jassert (getReferenceCount() == 1);
+        options = options.withPointHeight (x);
+    }
+
     void setHorizontalScale (float x)
     {
         jassert (getReferenceCount() == 1);
@@ -360,7 +367,15 @@ Font::Font (FontOptions opt)
 template <typename... Args>
 auto legacyArgs (Args&&... args)
 {
-    return FontOptions { std::forward<Args> (args)... }.withMetricsKind (TypefaceMetricsKind::legacy);
+    auto result = FontOptions { std::forward<Args> (args)... }.withMetricsKind (TypefaceMetricsKind::legacy);
+
+    if (result.getName().isEmpty())
+        result = result.withName (Font::getDefaultSansSerifFontName());
+
+    if (result.getPointHeight() > 0.0f)
+        result = result.withHeight (result.getPointHeight());
+
+    return result;
 }
 
 Font::Font()                                : font (new SharedFontInternal (legacyArgs())) {}
@@ -541,7 +556,7 @@ float Font::getHeightToPointsFactor() const
 Font Font::withPointHeight (float heightInPoints) const
 {
     Font f (*this);
-    f.setHeight (heightInPoints / getHeightToPointsFactor());
+    f.setPointHeight (heightInPoints);
     return f;
 }
 
@@ -557,6 +572,18 @@ void Font::setHeight (float newHeight)
     }
 }
 
+void Font::setPointHeight (float newHeight)
+{
+    newHeight = FontValues::limitFontHeight (newHeight);
+
+    if (! approximatelyEqual (font->getPointHeight(), newHeight))
+    {
+        dupeInternalIfShared();
+        font->setPointHeight (newHeight);
+        font->resetTypeface();
+    }
+}
+
 void Font::setHeightWithoutChangingWidth (float newHeight)
 {
     newHeight = FontValues::limitFontHeight (newHeight);
@@ -713,10 +740,22 @@ float Font::getAscent() const
     return font->getMetrics (*this).ascent * getHeight();
 }
 
-float Font::getHeight() const noexcept      { return font->getHeight(); }
+float Font::getHeight() const noexcept
+{
+    jassert ((font->getHeight() > 0.0f) != (font->getPointHeight() > 0.0f));
+    const auto height = font->getHeight();
+    return height > 0.0f ? height : font->getPointHeight() / getHeightToPointsFactor();
+}
+
 float Font::getDescent() const              { return font->getHeight() - getAscent(); }
 
-float Font::getHeightInPoints() const       { return getHeight()  * getHeightToPointsFactor(); }
+float Font::getHeightInPoints() const
+{
+    jassert ((font->getHeight() > 0.0f) != (font->getPointHeight() > 0.0f));
+    const auto pointHeight = font->getPointHeight();
+    return pointHeight > 0.0f ? pointHeight : font->getHeight() * getHeightToPointsFactor();
+}
+
 float Font::getAscentInPoints() const       { return getAscent()  * getHeightToPointsFactor(); }
 float Font::getDescentInPoints() const      { return getDescent() * getHeightToPointsFactor(); }
 
@@ -875,7 +914,7 @@ Font::Native Font::getNativeDetails() const
 
 Typeface::Ptr Font::getDefaultTypefaceForFont (const Font& font)
 {
-    const auto systemTypeface = [&]() -> Typeface::Ptr
+    const auto resolvedTypeface = [&]() -> Typeface::Ptr
     {
         if (font.getTypefaceName() != getSystemUIFontName())
             return {};
@@ -893,8 +932,8 @@ Typeface::Ptr Font::getDefaultTypefaceForFont (const Font& font)
         return getDefaultTypefaceForFont (copy);
     }();
 
-    if (systemTypeface != nullptr)
-        return systemTypeface;
+    if (resolvedTypeface != nullptr)
+        return resolvedTypeface;
 
     return Native::getDefaultPlatformTypefaceForFont (font);
 }
diff --git a/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Font.h b/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Font.h
index c116e5a619..aff8f99e67 100644
--- a/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Font.h
+++ b/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Font.h
@@ -265,10 +265,22 @@ public:
     [[nodiscard]] Font withPointHeight (float heightInPoints) const;
 
     /** Changes the font's height.
-        @see getHeight, withHeight, setHeightWithoutChangingWidth
+
+        The font will be scaled so that the sum of the ascender and descender is equal to the
+        provided height in logical pixels.
+
+        @see setPointHeight, getHeight, withHeight, setHeightWithoutChangingWidth
     */
     void setHeight (float newHeight);
 
+    /** Changes the font's height.
+
+        The argument specifies the size of the font's em-square in logical pixels.
+
+        @see setHeight, getHeight, withHeight, setHeightWithoutChangingWidth
+    */
+    void setPointHeight (float newHeight);
+
     /** Changes the font's height without changing its width.
         This alters the horizontal scale to compensate for the change in height.
     */
diff --git a/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_FontOptions.cpp b/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_FontOptions.cpp
index 4f924f6a4d..74e27485ef 100644
--- a/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_FontOptions.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_FontOptions.cpp
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ FontOptions::FontOptions (const String& typefaceName, float fontHeight, int styl
 }
 
 FontOptions::FontOptions (const String& typefaceName, const String& typefaceStyle, float fontHeight)
-    : name (typefaceName.isEmpty() ? Font::getDefaultSansSerifFontName() : typefaceName),
+    : name (typefaceName),
       style (typefaceStyle),
       height (FontValues::limitFontHeight (fontHeight))
 {
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ auto FontOptions::tie() const
                        fallbacks,
                        metricsKind,
                        height,
+                       pointHeight,
                        tracking,
                        horizontalScale,
                        fallbackEnabled,
diff --git a/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_FontOptions.h b/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_FontOptions.h
index a919a357a3..2dcdd8c1e5 100644
--- a/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_FontOptions.h
+++ b/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_FontOptions.h
@@ -109,8 +109,22 @@ public:
     /** Returns a copy of these options with font fallback enabled or disabled. */
     [[nodiscard]] FontOptions withFallbackEnabled (bool x = true)          const { return withMember (*this, &FontOptions::fallbackEnabled, x); }
 
-    /** Returns a copy of these options with the specified height in pixels (can be fractional). */
-    [[nodiscard]] FontOptions withHeight          (float x)                const { return withMember (*this, &FontOptions::height, x); }
+    /** Returns a copy of these options with the specified height in JUCE units (can be fractional).
+
+        FontOptions can hold either a JUCE height, set via withHeight(), or a point height, set via withPointHeight().
+        After calling withHeight(), the result of getPointHeight() will be -1.0f to indicate that the point height is unset.
+
+        For more information about how JUCE font heights work, see Font::setHeight().
+    */
+    [[nodiscard]] FontOptions withHeight          (float x)                const { jassert (x > 0); auto copy = *this; copy.height = x; copy.pointHeight = -1.0f; return copy; }
+
+    /** Returns a copy of these options with the specified height in points (can be fractional).
+
+        After calling withPointHeight(), the result of getHeight() will be -1.0f to indicate that the JUCE height is unset.
+
+        For more information about how point heights work, see Font::setPointHeight().
+    */
+    [[nodiscard]] FontOptions withPointHeight     (float x)                const { jassert (x > 0); auto copy = *this; copy.pointHeight = x; copy.height = -1.0f; return copy; }
 
     /** Returns a copy of these options with the specified extra kerning factor (also called "tracking"). */
     [[nodiscard]] FontOptions withKerningFactor   (float x)                const { return withMember (*this, &FontOptions::tracking, x); }
@@ -134,6 +148,8 @@ public:
     [[nodiscard]] auto getFallbacks()       const { return fallbacks; }
     /** @see withHeight() */
     [[nodiscard]] auto getHeight()          const { return height; }
+    /** @see withPointHeight() */
+    [[nodiscard]] auto getPointHeight()     const { return pointHeight; }
     /** @see withKerningFactor() */
     [[nodiscard]] auto getKerningFactor()   const { return tracking; }
     /** @see withHorizontalScale() */
@@ -165,7 +181,8 @@ private:
     Typeface::Ptr typeface;
     std::vector<String> fallbacks;
     TypefaceMetricsKind metricsKind { TypefaceMetricsKind::portable };
-    float height{};
+    float height = -1.0f;
+    float pointHeight = -1.0f;
     float tracking{};
     float horizontalScale = 1.0f;
     bool fallbackEnabled = true;
diff --git a/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Typeface.h b/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Typeface.h
index 5fc94dc403..31c4b39a9c 100644
--- a/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Typeface.h
+++ b/modules/juce_graphics/fonts/juce_Typeface.h
@@ -361,6 +361,18 @@ public:
 
         On Android 29+, this will use AFontMatcher to return the "system-ui" font. On earlier
         Android versions, this will attempt to return the Roboto font.
+
+        NOTE: The metrics of the system typeface may be significantly different from the metrics of
+        the sans-serif font that JUCE would normally select to be the default font. This is
+        especially evident on Windows: For Segoe UI (the Windows system typeface)
+        the sum of ascender and descender is somewhat larger than the em-size of the font,
+        but for Verdana (the JUCE default sans-serif font on Windows) the sum of ascender and
+        descender is closer to the em-size. When the size of a font is set via
+        FontOptions::withHeight() or Font::setHeight(), JUCE will scale fonts based on the sum of
+        ascender and descender, so switching to Segoe UI might cause text to render at a much
+        smaller size than with Verdana. You may get better results by setting font sizes in points
+        using FontOptions::withFontHeight() and Font::setPointHeight(). When using points, Segoe UI
+        still renders slightly smaller than Verdana, but the differences are less pronounced.
     */
     static Typeface::Ptr findSystemTypeface();