| This file contains a list of various font formats. It gives the |
| reference document and whether it is supported in FreeType 2. |
| |
| Table fields |
| ------------ |
| |
| wrapper format |
| The format used to represent the font data. In the table below it |
| is used only if the font format differs. Possible values are |
| |
| SFNT binary |
| PFB binary |
| PS a text header, followed by binary or text data |
| LZW compressed with either `gzip' or `compress' |
| BZ2 compressed with `bzip2'. |
| |
| font format |
| How the font is to be accessed, possibly after converting the file |
| type and wrapper format into a generic form. Bitmap formats are |
| `BDF', `PCF', and one form of `WINFNT'; all others are vector |
| formats. `PS' indicates third-order, `TT' second-order Bézier |
| curves. |
| |
| font type |
| Sub-formats of the font format. `SBIT' and `MACSBIT' are bitmap |
| formats, `MM' and `VAR' support optical axes. `CFF2' supports |
| optical axes also. |
| |
| glyph access |
| If not specified, the glyph access is `standard' to the font |
| format. Values are `CID' for CID-keyed fonts, `SYNTHETIC' for |
| fonts that are modified versions of other fonts by means of a |
| transformation matrix, and `TYPE_0' for PS fonts which are to be |
| accessed in a tree-like structure. |
| |
| FreeType driver |
| The module in the FreeType library which handles the specific font |
| format. A missing entry means that FreeType doesn't support the |
| font format (yet). |
| |
| |
| Notes |
| ----- |
| |
| The SFNT container format also provides `collections' (usually |
| having the file extension `.ttc' or `.otc'). A collection contains |
| multiple font faces that share some tables to avoid redundancy, thus |
| reducing the file size. In FreeType, elements of a collection can |
| be accessed with a proper face index. |
| |
| Both the GX and the OpenType 1.8 variation fonts provide `named |
| instances'. FreeType maps them to face indices (they can also be |
| accessed with the standard MM interface). |
| |
| Other font formats (not using the SFNT wrapper) also provide |
| multiple faces within one file; they are marked with an asterisk |
| (`*') in the table below. |
| |
| FreeType can be configured to support Mac files (on older Mac OS |
| versions, a `file' is stored as a data and a resource fork, that is, |
| within two separate data chunks). If a file can't be opened as a |
| font, FreeType then checks whether it is a resource fork, trying to |
| extract the contained font data from either a `POST' or `sfnt' |
| resource. |
| |
| |
| Please send additions and/or corrections to wl@gnu.org or to the |
| FreeType developer's list at freetype-devel@nongnu.org (for |
| subscribers only). If you can provide a font example for a format |
| which isn't supported yet please send a mail too. |
| |
| |
| wrapper font font glyph FreeType reference |
| format format type access driver documents |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |
| --- BDF --- --- bdf 5005.BDF_Spec.pdf, X11 |
| |
| |
| SFNT PS TYPE_1 --- type1 Type 1 GX Font Format [7] |
| (for the Mac; not supported) |
| SFNT PS TYPE_1 CID cid 5180.sfnt.pdf (for the Mac) [3] |
| SFNT PS CFF --- cff OT spec, 5176.CFF.pdf |
| (`OTTO' format) |
| SFNT PS CFF CID cff OT spec, 5176.CFF.pdf |
| SFNT PS CFF SYNTHETIC --- OT spec, 5176.CFF.pdf |
| SFNT PS CFF2 --- cff OT spec 1.8 |
| |
| SFNT TT SBIT --- sfnt XFree86 (bitmaps only; |
| with `head' table) |
| SFNT TT MACSBIT --- sfnt OT spec (for the Mac; |
| bitmaps only; `bhed' table) |
| SFNT TT --- --- truetype OT spec (`normal' TT font) |
| SFNT TT VAR --- truetype GX spec (`?var' tables) |
| SFNT TT VAR --- truetype OT spec 1.8 |
| (`?var' + `?VAR' tables) |
| |
| |
| WOFF --- --- --- cff, Compressed SFNT, ver. 1.0 [6] |
| truetype |
| WOFF2 --- --- --- cff, Compressed SFNT, ver. 2.0 [6] |
| truetype |
| |
| |
| --- PS TYPE_1 --- type1 T1_SPEC.pdf |
| (PFA, Type 1 font resource) |
| PFB PS TYPE_1 --- type1 T1_SPEC.pdf, |
| 5040.Download_Fonts.pdf |
| (`normal' Type 1 font) |
| --- PS TYPE_1 CID cid PLRM.pdf (CID Font Type 0; |
| Type 9 font) |
| --- PS MM --- type1 5015.Type1_Supp.pdf |
| (Multiple Masters) |
| --- PS CFF --- cff 5176.CFF.pdf (`pure' CFF) |
| --- PS* CFF CID cff 5176.CFF.pdf (`pure' CFF) |
| --- PS CFF SYNTHETIC --- 5176.CFF.pdf (`pure' CFF) |
| --- PS CFF/MM --- cff old 5167.CFF.pdf (`pure' CFF) |
| [3] |
| --- PS* CFF/MM CID cff old 5167.CFF.pdf (`pure' CFF) |
| [3] |
| --- PS CFF/MM SYNTHETIC --- old 5167.CFF.pdf (`pure' CFF) |
| [3] |
| PS PS CFF --- --- PLRM.pdf (Type 2) [1] |
| PS PS* CFF CID --- PLRM.pdf (Type 2) [1] |
| PS PS CFF SYNTHETIC --- PLRM.pdf (Type 2) [1] |
| PS PS CFF/MM --- --- PLRM.pdf (Type 2) [1] |
| PS PS* CFF/MM CID --- PLRM.pdf (Type 2) [1] |
| PS PS CFF/MM SYNTHETIC --- PLRM.pdf (Type 2) [1] |
| --- PS --- TYPE_0 --- PLRM.pdf |
| --- PS TYPE_3 --- --- PLRM.pdf (never supported) |
| --- PS TYPE_3 CID --- PLRM.pdf (CID Font Type 1; |
| Type 10 font; never supported) |
| PS PS TYPE_14 --- --- PLRM.pdf (Chameleon font; |
| Type 14 font; never supported?) |
| --- PS TYPE_32 CID --- PLRM.pdf (CID Font Type 4; |
| Type 32 font; never supported?) |
| PS TT --- --- type42 5012.Type42_Spec.pdf |
| (Type 42 font) |
| PS TT --- CID --- PLRM.pdf (CID Font Type 2; |
| Type 11 font) |
| |
| |
| ? ? CEF ? cff ? |
| |
| |
| --- PCF --- --- pcf X11 [4] |
| LZW PCF --- --- pcf X11 [4] |
| BZ2 PCF --- --- pcf X11 [4] |
| |
| |
| --- PFR* PFR0 --- pfr [2] |
| --- PFR PFR1 --- --- (undocumented, proprietary; |
| probably never supported) |
| |
| |
| --- WINFNT* --- --- winfonts Windows developer's notes [5] |
| --- WINFNT VECTOR --- --- Windows developer's notes [5] |
| |
| |
| [1] Support should be rather simple since this is identical to `CFF' |
| but in a PS wrapper. |
| |
| [2] The official PFR specification is no longer available, but |
| archive.org has archived it: |
| |
| https://web.archive.org/web/20091014062300/http://www.bitstream.com/font_rendering/products/truedoc/pfrspec.html |
| https://web.archive.org/web/20081115152605/http://www.bitstream.com/font_rendering/pdfs/pfrspec1.3.pdf |
| |
| The syntax of the auxiliary data is not defined there, but is |
| partially defined in MHP 1.0.3 (also called ETSI TS 101812 V1.3.1) |
| section 7.4. |
| |
| https://www.etsi.org/ |
| https://webapp.etsi.org/workprogram/Report_WorkItem.asp?WKI_ID=18799 |
| |
| [3] Support is rudimentary currently; some tables or data are not |
| loaded yet. |
| |
| [4] See |
| |
| THE X WINDOW SYSTEM SERVER: X VERSION 11, RELEASE 5 |
| Elias Israel, Erik Fortune, Digital Press, 1992 |
| ISBN 1-55558-096-3 |
| |
| for a specification given in Appendix D on pgs. 436-450. However, |
| this information might be out of date; unfortunately, there is no |
| PCF specification available online, and this book is out of print. |
| George Williams deduced the font format from the X11 sources and |
| documented it for his FontForge font editor: |
| |
| https://fontforge.github.io/pcf-format.html |
| |
| [5] This is from MS Windows 3; see Microsoft's Knowledge Base article |
| at |
| |
| https://support.microsoft.com/kb/65123 |
| |
| [6] Supported font formats are TrueType and OpenType fonts as |
| defined in the OpenType specification 1.6 and newer. |
| |
| [7] `The Type 1 GX Font Format' (dated 1995-09-27) was distributed in |
| Apple Developer CD-ROM in those days. The content of `TYP1' table |
| is a PostScript Type 1 font without the eexec encryption. Current |
| versions of FreeType don't not support this format, but FontForge |
| can load it. |
| |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| |
| Copyright (C) 2004-2023 by |
| David Turner, Robert Wilhelm, and Werner Lemberg. |
| |
| This file is part of the FreeType project, and may only be used, |
| modified, and distributed under the terms of the FreeType project |
| license, LICENSE.TXT. By continuing to use, modify, or distribute this |
| file you indicate that you have read the license and understand and |
| accept it fully. |
| |
| |
| --- end of formats.txt --- |
| |
| Local Variables: |
| coding: utf-8 |
| End: |
