Comparison of font editors
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTL FontMaster | Dutch Type Library | 3.0 | Proprietary | ||
| DTL FontMaster Light | Dutch Type Library | 2.7[1] | Free | ||
| FontForge | George Williams | 20251009[2] | 9 October 2025 | GPL3 | |
| FontLab | Yuri Yarmola | 1993 | 8.4.2.8950 | September 25, 2024 | Proprietary |
| Fontographer | Jim von Ehr | 5.2 | Proprietary | ||
| Fontra | Just van Rossum | 2021 | 2026.10.0 | Oct 5, 2026 | GPL3 |
| Glyphs | Georg Seifert | 2011 | 3.4 | October 8, 2025 | Proprietary, file format and parts of the code open source |
| Ikarus | Proprietary |
Operating system support
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FontForge | No[3] | import and export[4] | import and export[5] | import and export[6] | import and export[7] | import and export[8] | import and export[9] | Yes[10] | |
| FontLab | unlimited in source file | COLR, CPAL, SBIX, SVG [11] | import & export | import & export | import | import | import & export | Python scripting | |
| Glyphs | unlimited in source file | COLR, CPAL, SBIX, SVG [12] | 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.[13]
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 | ttfAutohint & FontLab | GUI | code preview and rendering previews, including Windows ClearType on macOS |
| Glyphs | ttfAutohint | GUI | live preview of 3 renderings |
| FontForge | yes (unknown type)[14] | yes | yes (when compiled in) |