Font file formats

Formats for typefaces: the outline or bitmap of every character, the spacing between them and the rules for combining them, packed into tables that the system or the browser reads.

Formats

.BDF

Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format

A bitmap font in plain text: each glyph as rows of hexadecimal pixels.

.FON

Windows bitmap font

Windows bitmap fonts: FNT font resources inside a 16-bit NE executable.

.OTF

OpenType font

The TrueType container extended with PostScript outlines and typographic features.

.PFB

PostScript Type 1 font

Adobe’s PostScript font: cubic outlines in an encrypted PostScript program.

.TTC

TrueType collection

Several TrueType or OpenType fonts in one file, sharing tables they have in common.

.TTF

TrueType font

Apple’s font format of quadratic outlines and hinting, in a directory of tables.

.WOFF

Web Open Font Format

A web font: TrueType or OpenType tables, each compressed with zlib.

.WOFF2

Web Open Font Format 2

A web font: TrueType or OpenType tables compressed together with Brotli.