The SVG format also has its own font description method. Modern versions can also use TrueType and OpenType fonts.įontForge ( fontforge), a font editing application, can store fonts in its native text-based format, sfd, spline font database.

Some file extensions used for fonts from these two programs are *pk, *gf, mf and vf. The typesetting application TeX and its companion font software, Metafont, traditionally renders characters using its own methods.

OpenType by Microsoft, built on TrueType (file extensions: otf, ttf)įor most purposes, the technical differences between TrueType and OpenType can be ignored.

TrueType by Apple and Microsoft (file extension: ttf).

PostScript fonts by Adobe – has various formats, e.g: Printer Font ASCII (PFA) and Printer Font Binary (PFB).

See #Bitmap for the available bitmap fonts.

PC Screen Font (PSF) used by the Kernel for console fonts, not supported by Xorg (for Unicode PSF files the extension is psfu).

Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF) by Adobe.Outline or vector fonts Use Bézier curves, drawing instructions and mathematical formulae to describe each glyph, which make the character outlines scalable to any size. Most computer fonts used today are in either bitmap or outline data formats.īitmap fonts Consist of a matrix of dots or pixels representing the image of each glyph in each face and size. Note that certain font licenses may impose some legal limitations. A computer font specifically designed for the computer screen, and not for printing, is a screen font.' A computer font is designed and created using a font editor. From Wikipedia:Computer font: 'A computer font is implemented as a digital data file containing a set of graphically related glyphs.

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