Editing Computer font (section)

== File formats ==
There multiple [[file format]]s for each file type.

=== Bitmap font formats ===
* [[Portable Compiled Format]] (PCF)
* [[Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format]] (BDF)
* [[Server Normal Format]] (SNF)
* DECWindows Font (DWF)
* Sun X11/NeWS format (BF, AFM)
* Microsoft Windows bitmapped font (FON)
* Amiga Font, ColorFont, AnimFont
* ByteMap Font (BMF)<ref>{{cite web |title=BMF – ByteMap font format |url=https://bmf.php5.cz/?page=format |website=BMF |access-date=9 June 2019}}</ref>
* [[PC Screen Font]] (PSF)
* [[Scalable Screen Font]] (SFN, also supports outline fonts)
* Packed bitmap font bitmap file for TeX DVI drivers (PK)
* FZX a proportional bitmap font for the [[ZX Spectrum]]<ref name="FZX">{{cite web |title = FZX: a new standard format and driver for proportional fonts |author = Einar Saukas and Andrew Owen |url = http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/discussion/44088/fzx-a-new-standard-format-and-driver-for-proportional-fonts/p1 |date = 12 June 2013 |page = 1 }}</ref>

=== Outline font formats ===

==== Type 1 and Type 3 fonts ====
[[Type 1 and Type 3 fonts]] were developed by [[Adobe Systems|Adobe]] for professional digital typesetting.  Using [[PostScript]], the glyphs are outline fonts described with cubic [[Bézier curves]].  Type 1 fonts were restricted to a subset of the PostScript language, and used Adobe's hinting system, which used to be very expensive.  Type 3 allowed unrestricted use of the PostScript language, but did not include any hint information, which could lead to visible rendering artifacts on low-resolution devices (such as computer screens and dot-matrix printers).

==== TrueType fonts ====
[[TrueType]] is a font system originally developed by [[Apple Inc]].  It was intended to replace Type 1 fonts, which many felt were too expensive.  Unlike Type 1 fonts, TrueType glyphs are described with quadratic Bézier curves.  It is currently very popular and implementations exist for all major operating systems.

==== OpenType fonts ====
[[OpenType]] is a smart font system designed by [[Adobe Systems|Adobe]] and [[Microsoft]]. OpenType fonts contain outlines in either the TrueType or [[Compact Font Format|CFF]] format together with a wide range of metadata.

=== Stroke-based font formats ===
[[Metafont]] uses a different sort of glyph description. Like TrueType, it is a vector font description system. It draws glyphs using strokes produced by moving a polygonal or elliptical pen approximated by a polygon along a path made from cubic [[composite Bézier curve]]s and straight line segments, or by filling such paths. Although when stroking a path the envelope of the stroke is never actually generated, the method causes no loss of accuracy or resolution. The method Metafont uses is more mathematically complex because the [[parallel curve]]s of a Bézier can be 10th order algebraic curves.<ref name="Kilgard">{{cite web |title = Vector Graphics & Path Rendering |author = Mark Kilgard |url = http://www.slideshare.net/Mark_Kilgard/22pathrender |date = 10 April 2012 |page = 28 |access-date = 2014-08-19 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140813082730/http://www.slideshare.net/Mark_Kilgard/22pathrender |archive-date = 2014-08-13 |url-status = live }}</ref>

In 2004, [[DynaComware]] developed DigiType, a stroke-based font format. In 2006, the creators of the [[Saffron Type System]] announced a representation for stroke-based fonts called [[Saffron Type System#Stylized stroke fonts|Stylized Stroke Fonts]] (SSFs) with the aim of providing the expressiveness of traditional outline-based fonts and the small [[memory footprint]] of uniform-width stroke-based fonts (USFs).<ref>{{cite conference |title = An Improved Representation for Stroke-based Fonts |conference = SIGGRAPH 2006 |first1 = Elena J. |last1 = Jakubiak |first2 = Ronald N. |last2 = Perry |first3 = Sarah F. |last3 = Frisken }}</ref>

[[AutoCAD]] uses [[Shapefile|SHX/SHP]] fonts.