Convert Fonts to Any Format

TrueType Font - universal desktop font format developed by Apple and Microsoft in the 1980s. Uses quadratic Bézier curves for glyph outlines. Excellent screen rendering with hinting technology. Works on all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux). Standard format for system fonts and design applications. File sizes typically larger than web formats but widely compatible. Perfect for desktop publishing, design software (Photoshop, Illustrator), and applications requiring maximum compatibility.

OpenType Font - modern font standard developed by Adobe and Microsoft, extending TrueType with PostScript curves and advanced typography features. Supports 65,536+ glyphs (vs TTF's 65,536 limit), ligatures, contextual alternates, swashes, and complex script shaping. Uses cubic Bézier curves for smoother outlines. Industry standard for professional typography and multilingual support. Essential for advanced design work, professional printing, complex scripts (Arabic, Devanagari), and typography-heavy projects.

Mac OS Font Suitcase - legacy Macintosh font format storing TrueType or PostScript fonts in Mac resource fork structure. Native to classic Mac OS (pre-OS X). Contains font families with multiple weights/styles in single file. Obsolete format replaced by standard TTF/OTF in modern macOS. Maintained for accessing vintage Mac font collections, classic Mac software compatibility, and archival purposes. Essential for retro Mac design work and historical typography preservation.

Compact Font Format - Adobe's highly efficient font outline format that revolutionized font compression by storing glyph data using PostScript-based charstrings in a remarkably compact structure. Developed in the mid-1990s as part of the OpenType specification, CFF provides superior compression compared to TrueType outlines, often achieving 30-40% smaller file sizes while maintaining identical visual quality. The format uses Type 2 charstrings which are more compact than the Type 1 charstrings used in older PostScript fonts. CFF is not typically used as a standalone font file format but rather as the outline data embedded within OpenType (OTF) fonts that have PostScript outlines. When you see an OTF font, it might contain either TrueType outlines or CFF outlines - CFF versions are generally smaller. Used extensively in professional typography, PDF documents, and high-quality font production. Essential for font designers working with PostScript-based outlines and situations requiring maximum compression without quality loss. Most modern OTF fonts from professional foundries use CFF for its superior efficiency.

CID-Keyed Font - Character IDentifier font format developed by Adobe specifically to handle enormous character sets found in Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) which can contain thousands or tens of thousands of characters. Traditional font formats struggled with the sheer volume of glyphs needed for comprehensive CJK typography. CID fonts use a character ID system that efficiently organizes and references these massive glyph collections without the memory and performance problems of earlier approaches. The format separates character encoding from glyph descriptions, allowing multiple encodings to reference the same glyph set. This was revolutionary for Asian language publishing in the 1990s and early 2000s. However, CID fonts are complex, require specialized PostScript RIP (Raster Image Processor) support, and are largely obsolete now - modern Unicode-based OpenType fonts handle large character sets more elegantly with better software support. Still encountered in legacy professional CJK typography workflows, vintage desktop publishing systems, and archived Asian language documents from the pre-Unicode era. Important for accessing and converting historical Asian language font collections and maintaining legacy publishing workflows.

Spline Font Database - the native editable font format of FontForge, the popular free and open-source font editor. Think of SFD as the 'source code' for a font - it contains not just the final glyph outlines, but also all the editing metadata, construction history, guidelines, hints, and work-in-progress information that font designers need during the creative process. Available in both ASCII and binary formats, SFD files are human-readable (in ASCII mode) and can be version-controlled with Git, making them perfect for collaborative font design projects. FontForge has been the tool of choice for thousands of font designers worldwide since the early 2000s, particularly in the open-source community. SFD files preserve every detail of the font design process - anchor points, control points, reference layers, construction guides, and even designer notes. When you're done designing, you compile/export the SFD to TTF or OTF for distribution. Perfect for font design workflows, open-source font projects (many Google Fonts started as SFD files), font modification and customization, and learning font design with free tools. Essential format in the open-source typography community.

Unified Font Object - modern, open-source font source format that's become the de facto standard for exchangeable font design files across different font editors. Developed collaboratively by font tool creators (including developers of RoboFont, FontLab, Glyphs), UFO uses an XML-based directory structure where each glyph is stored in a separate human-readable XML file, making it perfect for version control systems like Git. This is huge for collaborative font design - teams can work on different glyphs simultaneously and merge changes intelligently, something impossible with binary font formats. UFO files contain complete font design data including glyph outlines, metrics, kerning, OpenType features, guidelines, and metadata. The format's openness and interoperability mean you can start a font in FontForge, continue in Glyphs, and finish in RoboFont without losing any data. Widely adopted by professional type foundries, open-source font projects, and educational institutions teaching type design. Many commercial and free fonts are now developed in UFO format before being compiled to OTF/TTF. Perfect for professional font development, collaborative type design projects, version-controlled font sources, and maintaining font families across multiple tools. If you're serious about font design, you'll encounter UFO files constantly.

Web Open Font Format - compressed font format specifically designed for web use, providing 40% smaller files than raw TTF/OTF. Developed by Mozilla, Microsoft, and Opera (2009). Supports both TrueType and OpenType outline data. Universal browser support (IE 9+, all modern browsers covering 99% of users). Includes metadata and private data tables. Standard web font format balancing compression and compatibility. Essential for website typography, custom web fonts, and cross-browser font delivery.

Web Open Font Format 2.0 - next-generation web font format offering 30% better compression than WOFF through Brotli algorithm. Developed by Google (2014). Provides smallest file sizes for fastest web loading. Supported by all modern browsers (Chrome 36+, Firefox 39+, Safari 12+, Edge 14+) covering 95%+ of users. Best choice for modern web projects. Essential for performance-optimized websites, mobile-first designs, and bandwidth-conscious applications. Future standard for web typography.

Embedded OpenType - Microsoft's proprietary web font format created exclusively for Internet Explorer (IE 6-11). Compressed format with DRM capabilities and subsetting support. Only browser requiring EOT was Internet Explorer. Obsolete since IE discontinuation (2022) but encountered in legacy web projects. Historical format maintained for supporting vintage IE browsers and accessing archived web font collections from 2000s-era web development.

Scalable Vector Graphics Font - font format where glyphs are defined as SVG paths, allowing color, gradients, and effects impossible in standard fonts. Supports multicolor glyphs and complex visual effects. Limited browser support and officially deprecated for web use. Larger file sizes than standard fonts. Used for special effects, icon fonts with color, and artistic typography. Legacy web font format maintained for specific design effects and creative typography projects requiring SVG rendering capabilities.

PostScript Font Binary - Adobe Type 1 font format in binary encoding, standard for professional printing and PostScript printers (1985-present). Compact binary format containing glyph outlines as PostScript curves. Requires matching PFM (Windows) or AFM (Unix) metrics file. Industry standard in desktop publishing, professional printing, and prepress workflows. Essential for high-end printing, Adobe applications, and projects requiring PostScript compatibility. Being superseded by OpenType but still used in legacy printing systems.

PostScript Font ASCII - Adobe Type 1 font in ASCII text format (vs binary PFB). Contains same PostScript glyph data as PFB but in readable text encoding. Larger file size than PFB but can be edited with text editors. Used in Unix systems and environments requiring text-based font formats. Legacy format from early PostScript days. Maintained for cross-platform PostScript font compatibility, font development, and systems requiring ASCII-only formats. Converts to PFB for production use.

Printer Font Metrics - Windows companion file for Type 1 PostScript fonts (PFB), containing font measurements, kerning pairs, and character widths needed for proper text layout. Does not include glyph outlines (those are in PFB file). Required alongside PFB for Windows applications to display and print Type 1 fonts correctly. Legacy format from Windows PostScript font support. Essential for working with Type 1 fonts on Windows and professional printing workflows.

Adobe Font Metrics - text-based metrics file for Type 1 PostScript fonts, containing character widths, kerning pairs, ligatures, and font measurements. Unix/Mac equivalent of PFM format. Human-readable ASCII format. Required alongside PFB for proper font rendering in PostScript environments. Standard in professional typography and printing. Essential for PostScript workflows, font analysis, and applications requiring detailed font metrics. Used in prepress, typesetting, and professional publishing systems.

Binary Font File - generic designation for raw binary font outline data without a specific container format wrapper. This is an intermediate or development format used primarily in font creation pipelines, font editing tools, and conversion utilities rather than an end-user distributable format. BIN files contain the essential glyph outline information (the actual shapes of the characters) in binary form but lack the headers, metadata, metrics tables, and organizational structure that make a complete font file usable by operating systems and applications. Think of it as the 'ingredients' without the 'recipe' - you have the essential data but not in a form that computers can use directly. Different font tools use binary font files for different purposes: temporary storage during conversion, intermediate processing steps, or proprietary internal formats. Not standardized, so one tool's BIN file may be incompatible with another's. If you encounter a BIN file, it typically needs to be processed with specific font tools or converted to standard formats (TTF, OTF) before use. Relevant primarily to font developers, conversion specialists, and situations involving font tool development or format research.

Font Suitcase - Macintosh resource fork font container format from classic Mac OS era (1984-2001). Stores multiple font formats (bitmap, TrueType, PostScript) in proprietary Mac structure. Used for system fonts and font management in pre-OS X Mac systems. Legacy format requiring Mac-specific tools to access. Maintained for vintage Mac typography, classic design projects, and accessing archived Mac font libraries from 1980s-1990s era.

PostScript Font Program - Adobe font format where the entire font is expressed as a PostScript language program containing the font outlines, metrics, and rendering instructions in human-readable PostScript code. This is the PostScript Type 1 font in its most verbose, program-like form - essentially executable PostScript code that defines how to draw each character. Developed in the mid-1980s alongside PostScript itself, this format was fundamental to the desktop publishing revolution. PS files are relatively rare as end-user font files because they're inefficient (large and slow to process) compared to binary formats like PFB, but they're incredibly useful for font development, debugging font issues, understanding font internals, and educational purposes since you can actually read the code. Used primarily for downloading fonts to PostScript printers (the printer executes the PostScript program to learn the font), font development workflows, and historical/archival purposes. Legacy format from the golden age of desktop publishing (1985-2000). Fascinating for understanding how PostScript fonts work but generally converted to OTF for modern usage. Important historical artifact in professional typography and a window into the technical foundations of digital type.

PostScript Type 3 Font - Adobe's bitmap and procedural font format allowing arbitrary PostScript graphics operations within glyph definitions, enabling color fills, patterns, gradients, and complex effects impossible in Type 1 fonts. Introduced alongside PostScript in the 1980s, Type 3 was revolutionary for its flexibility - glyphs could be full PostScript programs drawing anything imaginable. However, this flexibility came with significant drawbacks: no hinting (poor screen rendering at small sizes), no font protection, inefficient file sizes, and minimal software support. Type 3 fonts were used for special effects, decorative typography, and situations requiring graphic elements within letterforms. Largely obsolete now - modern alternatives (color fonts, SVG fonts, variable fonts) provide better solutions for similar effects with superior software support. Encountered mainly in vintage PostScript documents from 1980s-1990s, historical desktop publishing archives, and specialized artistic typography projects. Important for accessing and converting legacy PostScript artwork and maintaining historical DTP documents. Convert to modern formats unless specific Type 3 features are required for historical preservation.

Type 11 Font - specialized variant of PostScript CID-Keyed font format used for complex fonts with enormous character sets, particularly in professional Asian language (CJK - Chinese, Japanese, Korean) typography. Part of Adobe's suite of solutions for handling fonts with thousands of glyphs before Unicode provided standardized approaches. Type 11 fonts combine CID-Keyed architecture with Type 1 PostScript outlines, optimized for environments requiring massive character repertoires with efficient memory usage. This was critical in the 1990s when memory was expensive and Japanese fonts could contain 10,000+ characters. However, Type 11 is a legacy format with limited modern support - contemporary Unicode-based OpenType fonts handle large character sets far more elegantly with better international standardization and broader software compatibility. Primarily encountered in legacy professional publishing systems, archived CJK typography projects from the 1990s-early 2000s, and old PostScript RIP configurations. Important for accessing historical Asian language font collections and maintaining vintage multilingual publishing workflows. Modern projects should use Unicode OpenType fonts which provide superior international character support with universal software compatibility.

Type 42 Font - hybrid PostScript font format that wraps TrueType outline data in a PostScript font wrapper, creating a bridge between the TrueType and PostScript worlds. Developed to solve a specific problem: PostScript printers and workflows needed to use TrueType fonts (which were becoming popular on Windows and Mac in the 1990s) but PostScript interpreters only understood PostScript-based Type 1 fonts. Type 42 fonts encapsulate TrueType glyph data within a PostScript font structure, allowing PostScript devices to process TrueType fonts. This was primarily a printer-internal format - when you printed a TrueType font to a PostScript printer, the print driver might convert it to Type 42 temporarily. Not typically used as an end-user distributable font format because it's more efficient to use the native TrueType (TTF) format directly in modern workflows. Relevant mainly to printing technology specialists, PostScript RIP developers, and situations involving legacy PostScript printing systems from the 1990s-2000s. Historical format representing the complex interplay between competing font technologies during the desktop publishing transition. Modern systems handle TrueType fonts natively without Type 42 conversion. Convert underlying TrueType data to standard TTF/OTF for contemporary use.