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 | 3.0 | Proprietary | |||
| DTL FontMaster Light | 2.7[2] | Free | |||
| DTL OTMaster | 6.3[2] | Proprietary | |||
| DTL OTMaster Light | 3.7[2] | Free | |||
| FontArk (Web service) | Proprietary | ||||
| FontCreator | Erwin Denissen | January 25, 1999 | 12.0 | May 7, 2019 | Proprietary |
| FontForge | George Williams | 20190801 | August 1, 2019 | GPL3 | |
| FontLab | Yuri Yarmola | 1993 | 7.0.0 | November 30, 2019 | 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 | ||||
| RoboFont | Proprietary | ||||
| Type | 3.2 | Proprietary | |||
| Type light | 3.2.038 | Proprietary | |||
| TypeTool | 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 |
References
- DTL FontTools - Downloads. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
- "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.
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