Comparison of font editors

Short description: None

This is a technical feature comparison of font editors.

## Contents

* 1 General
* 2 Operating system support
* 3 General features
* 4 TrueType hinting
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## 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  | 2012  |  |  | Proprietary or open source
Crossfont | Aaron Elkins  | 2019  |  |  | Proprietary
DTL FontMaster | Dutch Type Library  |  | 3.0  |  | Proprietary
DTL FontMaster Light | Dutch Type Library  |  | 2.7[2] |  | Free
DTL OTMaster  |  |  | 6.3[2] |  | Proprietary
DTL OTMaster Light  |  |  | 3.7[2] |  | Free
FontArk (Web service)  |  |  |  |  | Proprietary
FontCreator  | Erwin Denissen  | 1999  | 12.0  | 2019  | Proprietary
FontDraw  | Alexander Kirichenko  | 2022  | 1.0  | 2022  | Proprietary
FontForge | George Williams  |  | 20220308  | 2022  | GPL3
FontLab | Yuri Yarmola  | 1993  | 8.0.1  | 2022  | 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  |  |  |  |
FontDraw  | 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  | Colored glyphs  | 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] | COLR, CPAL, SVG [5] |  |  | import and export  |  | import  | import and export  | OpenType PS (.otf) editor Macro / Script Transformations
FontForge |  | No[6] | import and export[7] | import and export[8] | import and export[9] | import and export[10] | import and export[11] | import and export[12] | Yes[13]
FontLab | unlimited in source file  | COLR, CPAL, SBIX, SVG [14] | import & export  |  | import & export  | import  | import  | import & export  | Python scripting
Glyphs  | unlimited in source file  | COLR, CPAL, SBIX, SVG [15] | 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.[16]

## 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  |  |
FontDraw 1.0  | 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

* Font editor
* Comparison of vector graphics editors

## References

1. ↑ "Create and Edit Fonts in Linux with BirdFont". 25 January 2016. http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/create-and-edit-fonts-in-linux-with-birdfont.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 DTL FontTools - Downloads. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
3. ↑ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". https://www.techinasia.com/12-tools-modern-web-designer.
4. ↑ "FontCreator Comparison Chart". http://www.high-logic.com/font-editor/fontcreator/comparison.html. Retrieved 2017-06-26.
5. ↑ "FontCreator – Features and Benefits". High-Logic B.V.. https://www.high-logic.com/font-editor/fontcreator/features-and-benefits. Retrieved 2022-10-13. "Create and edit scalable color fonts (supporting COLR, CPAL, and SVG tables)"
6. ↑ "Color font COLR/CPAL #677". 2013-08-24. https://github.com/fontforge/fontforge/issues/677. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
7. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". https://fontforge.org/docs/faq.html#faq-outline-conversion. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
8. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". https://fontforge.org/docs/faq.html#faq-outline-conversion. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
9. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". https://fontforge.org/docs/faq.html#faq-outline-conversion. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
10. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". https://fontforge.org/docs/faq.html#faq-outline-conversion. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
11. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". https://fontforge.org/docs/faq.html#faq-outline-conversion. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
12. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". https://fontforge.org/docs/faq.html#faq-outline-conversion. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
13. ↑ "FontForge Scripting Tutorial". https://fontforge.github.io/scripting-tutorial.html. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
14. ↑ "Color Font Formats". Fontlab Ltd.. https://help.fontlab.com/fontlab-vi/Color-Font-Formats/. Retrieved 2022-10-13. "FontLab will export all four formats"
15. ↑ "Features". Glyphs GmbH. https://glyphsapp.com/features#colors-and-contours. Retrieved 2022-10-13. "Or tap into the possibilities of color font formats: SVG, CPAL/COLR, sbix and classic layer fonts."
16. ↑ "Cmap - Character to Glyph Index Mapping Table (OpenType 1.9) - Typography". 10 January 2023. 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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