Comparison of font editors
This is a technical feature comparison of font editors.
General[]
Basic general information about font editors: creator, first release date, latest stable version, latest release date and license.
| Software | Creator | First Release Date | Latest Stable Version | Latest Release Date | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BirdFont [1] | Johan Mattsson | August 24, 2012 | Proprietary or open source | ||
| Crossfont | Aaron Elkins | March 14, 2019 | Proprietary | ||
| DTL FontMaster | Dutch Type Library | 3.0 | Proprietary | ||
| DTL FontMaster Light | Dutch Type Library | 2.7[2] | Free | ||
| 6.3[2] | Proprietary | ||||
| 3.7[2] | Free | ||||
| Proprietary | |||||
| Erwin Denissen | January 25, 1999 | 12.0 | May 7, 2019 | Proprietary | |
| FontForge | George Williams | 20190801 | August 1, 2019 | GPL3 | |
| FontLab | Yuri Yarmola | 1993 | 7.2 | December 7, 2020 | Proprietary |
| Fontographer | Jim von Ehr | 5.2 | Proprietary | ||
| Glyphr Studio [3] | Matt LaGrandeur, Mateusz Zawartka, Troy Coutu, & Eric Newport | 0.5.3 | October 2019 | GPL3 | |
| Glyphs | Georg Seifert | 2011 | 2.6.2 | 2019 | Proprietary, file format and parts of the code open source |
| Ikarus | Proprietary | ||||
| Proprietary | |||||
| Type | 3.2 | Proprietary | |||
| 3.2.038 | Proprietary | ||||
| 3.1 | Proprietary | ||||
| VOGG | Free |
Operating system support[]
The table below lists the operating systems on which each font editor can run.
| Software | Windows | OS X | Linux | Android | iOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birdfont | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Crossfont | Yes | ||||
| DTL FontMaster | Yes | ||||
| DTL FontMaster Light | Yes | ||||
| DTL OTMaster | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| DTL OTMaster Light | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| FontCreator | Yes | ||||
| FontForge | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| FontLab | Yes | Yes | |||
| Glyphs | No | Yes | |||
| RoboFont | No | Yes | |||
| Type | Yes | Yes | |||
| Type light | Yes | Yes | |||
| TypeTool | Yes | Yes | |||
| VOGG | Yes |
General features[]
Below is an overview of general features typical for font editors.
| Software | Maximum number of glyphs supported | Windows Type 1 (.pfb) editor | Mac Type 1 (LWFN) editor | OpenType TT / TrueType (.ttf) editor | Mac TrueType (sfnt/dfont) editor | TrueType Collection (.ttc) editor | OpenType PS (.otf) editor | Macro / Script |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FontCreator | unlimited in source file[4] | import and export | import | import and export | OpenType PS (.otf) editor Macro / Script Transformations | |||
| FontForge | Yes[5] | |||||||
| FontLab | unlimited in source file | import & export | import & export | import | import | import & export | Python scripting | |
| Glyphs | unlimited in source file | import | import | import & export | import | import | import & export | Python script and plug-ins, Objective-C plug-ins, free SDK available |
The OpenType cmap table can reference a maximum of 65536 glyphs.[6]
TrueType hinting[]
Font editors supporting TrueType hinting can do that either automatically or manually. The availability of these functions and the possibility to debug hinting is indicated in the following table.
| Software | Automatic TrueType hinting | Manual TrueType hinting | TrueType hinting debugger |
|---|---|---|---|
| FontCreator 12 | ttfAutohint | ||
| FontLab | ttfAutohint & FontLab | GUI | code preview and rendering previews, including Windows ClearType on macOS |
| Glyphs | ttfAutohint | GUI | live preview of 3 renderings |
See also[]
References[]
- ^ http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/create-and-edit-fonts-in-linux-with-birdfont
- ^ a b c DTL FontTools - Downloads. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
- ^ https://www.techinasia.com/12-tools-modern-web-designer
- ^ "FontCreator Comparison Chart". Retrieved 2017-06-26.
- ^ "FontForge Scripting Tutorial". Retrieved 2016-08-31.
- ^ https://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/cmap.htm
External links[]
- Create your own font with these 14 best tools. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
- 5 best font editors. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
Categories:
- Multimedia software comparisons
- Font editors