FontForge (previously known as Pfaedit) is an open source font editor, software designed to create and modify outline and bitmap fonts.
FontForge is also a font format converter, and can convert among PostScript (ASCII & binary Type 1, some Type 3s, some Type 0s), TrueType, and OpenType (Type2), CID-keyed, SVG, CFF and multiple-master fonts.
FontForge uses FreeType for rendering fonts on screen. Fonts that have been created with FontForge include DejaVu fonts, Linux Libertine, Beteckna, and Asana-Math.
Also included with FontForge are programs to generate a font thumbnail image, check for certain common errors and to compare two font files (fontimage, fontlint, and sfddiff respectively).
Key Features
- Create or edit glyphs.
- Supports many font formats, including TrueType, PostScript, OpenType, SVG, FON, FNT, Web Open Font Format, and TeX Bitmap fonts.
- Supports Adobe’s OpenType feature file specification.
- Supports the unofficial Microsoft mathematical typesetting extensions (MATH table).
- Convert fonts from one format to another, or can store fonts in its native text-based “spline font database” format (.sfd).
- Uses Potrace or AutoTrace to trace bitmap images and import them into a font.
- 2 scripting languages.
- Internationalization support: (English), Russian, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Greek, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, German, Polish, and Ukrainian.
Website: fontforge.org
Support: Documentation, GitHub Code Repository
Developer: George Williams
License: Revised BSD License
FontForge is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Font Editors | |
|---|---|
| FontForge | Create and modify postscript, truetype and opentype fonts |
| fontTools | Library to manipulate font files from Python |
| Birdfont | Vala based font editor |
| Glyphr Studio | Aimed at typeface design beginners and hobbyists |
| Fontra | Browser-based font editor |
| ftcli | Command line interface built with click to edit fonts using fontTools |
| Ygt | Graphical TypeType hinting program |
| Slice | Create custom font design spaces |
| TruFont | Streamlined and hackable font editor |
| Modular Font Editor K | Glyph editor for the Modular Font Editor K project |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Font Renderers | |
|---|---|
| HarfBuzz | OpenType text shaping engine |
| FreeType | Small and efficient software font engine |
| LibICU | Libraries for Unicode and internationalization |
| Fontconfig | Library for configuring and customizing font access |
| FriBidi | Implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Discovered a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form. |
Beteckna was created with Birdfont