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 Johan Mattsson August 24, 2012 2.15.6 Free
DTL FontMaster 3.0 Proprietary
DTL FontMaster Light 2.7[1] Free
DTL OTMaster 6.3[1] Proprietary
DTL OTMaster Light 3.7[1] Free
FontArk (Web service) Proprietary
FontCreator Proprietary
FontForge George Williams 20160404 April 4, 2016 Free
FontLab VI Yuri Yarmola 6.0.7 July 2018 Proprietary
Fontographer Jim von Ehr 5.2 Proprietary
Glyphr Studio Free
Glyphs Georg Seifert 2011 2.4.4 2017 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 font editor can be run.

Software Windows OS X Linux Android iOS
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 VI Yes Yes
Glyphs No Yes
RoboFont Yes
Type Yes Yes
Type light Yes Yes
TypeTool Yes Yes
VOGG Yes

General features

Below is an overview of general features typical for typographic 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 65535[2]
FontForge Yes[3]
FontLab VI 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. [4]

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
FontLab VI ttfAutohint & FontLab GUI code preview and rendering previews, including Windows ClearType on macOS
Glyphs ttfAutohint GUI live preview of 3 renderings

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 DTL FontTools - Downloads. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
  2. "FontCreator Comparison Chart". Retrieved 2017-06-26.
  3. "FontForge Scripting Tutorial". Retrieved 2016-08-31.
  4. https://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/cmap.htm
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