TrueType and OpenType tables supported by FontForge
Apple, MS and Adobe all have their descriptions of TrueType and OpenType. MS and Adobe’s versions are essentially the same, while Apple’s differ significantly from either.
name
long name
FontForge’s use
Apple docs
Adobe docs
avar
axis variation
Used to specify piecewise linear sections of axes for distortable fonts
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BASE
baseline data
Provides information on baseline positioning and per-script line heights in OpenType.
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bsln
baseline data
Provides information on baseline positioning for AAT.
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BDF
X11 BDF header
This table is not part of the official TrueType or OpenType specs. It contains the header information from old bdf fonts. I describe its format here.
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bdat
bitmap data
Provides the actual bitmap data for all bitmap glyphs in Apple fonts. ‘EBDT’ is used by MS/Adobe instead (and has the same format)
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bhed
bitmap font header
Replaces the ‘head’ table in Apple’s bitmap only fonts. (similar to ‘head’)
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bloc
bitmap location data
Provides pointers to the appropriate bitmap data for each bitmap glyph in Apple fonts. ‘EBLC’ is used by MS/Adobe instead (and has the same format)
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CFF
Provides all the outline data (and sometimes glyph names as well) for the PostScript Type2 font that is the heart of an OpenType font. Vaguely equivalent to ‘glyf’ , ‘loca’ and ‘post’ combined.
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cmap
character code mapping
Provides at least one encoding from a stream of bytes to glyphs in the font. FontForge provides at least three encodings in every font (one for Mac Roman, one for Mac Unicode, one for MS Unicode). For some fonts it will additionally provide a CJK encoding (Big5, SJIS, etc) or an extended unicode encoding which will cover code points outside of the BMP.
For fonts with special 1-byte encodings (such as symbol) it will provide a “symbol” encoding which maps a known page in the corporate use area to the glyphs.
cvar
variations on cvt table
Used to specify hinting differences in distortable fonts
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cvt
control value table
FontForge uses this when it attempts to hint truetype fonts (FontForge will read it from a font and save it into another).
EBDT
embedded bitmap data
Provides the actual bitmap data for all bitmap glyphs in MS/Adobe fonts. ‘bdat’ is used by Apple instead (and has the same format)
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EBLC
embedded bitmap location
Provides pointers to the appropriate bitmap data for each bitmap glyph in MS/Adobe fonts. ‘bloc’ is used by Apple instead (and has the same format)
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EBSC
embedded bitmap scaling
Provides information on how to scale bitmaps (on those rare occasions where this is desirable). FontForge uses it when making bitmap only fonts for windows.
feat
layout feature table
Maps features specified in Apple’s ‘morx’ (or ‘mort’) tables into names provided in the ‘name’ table. FontForge generates this when it generates a ‘morx’ table.
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FFTM
FontForge timestamp
This table is unique to FontForge. It contains three timestamps: First FontForge’s version date, then when the font was generated, and when the font was created. I describe its format here.
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fpgm
font program
FontForge never generates this, but it will preserve it and allows users to edit it.
fvar
font variations
Provides top level information about distortable fonts. Specifies the types of distortions possible.
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gasp
grid-fitting and scan conversion
When FontForge does not attempt to hint a truetype font it will generate this table which tells the rasterizer not to to do grid-fitting (hinting) but to do anti-aliasing instead.
GDEF
glyph definition
Divides glyphs into various classes that make using the GPOS/GSUB tables easier. Also provides internal caret positions for ligatures. It is approximately equivalent to Apple’s ‘prop’ and ‘lcar’ tables combined.
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glyf
glyph outline
Provides outline information for truetype glyphs. Vaguely equivalent to ‘CFF ‘.
GPOS
glyph positioning
Provides kerning information, mark-to-base, etc. for opentype fonts. See the chapter on GPOS in FontForge for more information. Vaguely equivalent to ‘kern’ and ‘opbd’ tables.
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GSUB
glyph substitution
Provides ligature information, swash, etc. for opentype fonts. See the chapter on GSUB in FontForge for more information. Vaguely equivalent to ‘morx’.
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gvar
glyph variations
This table contains the meat of a distortable font. It specifies how each glyph can be distorted.
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head
font header
Contains general font information, such as the size of the em-square, a time stamp, check sum infomation, etc.
hhea
horizontal header
This table contains font-wide horizontal metric information.
hmtx
horizontal metrics
This contains the per-glyph horizontal metrics.
kern
kerning
Provides kerning information for Apple’s truetype fonts (and for older MS truetype fonts). In OpenType fonts this information is contained in the GPOS table.
lcar
ligature caret
This table provides the location of carets within ligatures in an Apple font. This information is contained in the GDEF table in opentype fonts.
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loca
glyph location
This provides a pointer into the ‘glyf’ table for each glyph in the font. It is required for truetype and meaningless for opentype (where vaguely equivalent information is provided in the CFF table).
MATH
mathematical typesetting
Provides general information needed for mathematical typesetting. This is a new table (August 2007) and there is currently no publicly available documentation for it.
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maxp
maximum profile
Provides general “maximum” information about the font. This contains: the maximum number of glyphs in a font, the maximum number of points in a glyph, the maximum number of references in a glyph, etc.
mort
metamorphosis
FontForge will read this table but not generate it. This table has been replaced by the ‘morx’ table which will be generated instead. It is vaguely equivalent to the GSUB table.
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morx
extended metamorphosis
Provides ligature information, swash, etc. for apple’s truetype fonts. FontForge can read and write this table. See the chapter on morx in FontForge for more information. Vaguely equivalent to ‘GSUB’.
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name
name
Provides certain standard strings relevant to the font (font name, family name, license, etc.) in various languages. In Apple fonts also provides the names of various features of the ‘morx’/’mort’ table.
opbd
optical bounds
This table provides optical bound information for each glyph in the table in an Apple font. This information may also be provided in the GPOS table of an opentype font.
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PfEd
FontForge’s personal table
This table is unique to FontForge. It can contain things like FontForge’s comments, and colors.I describe its format here.
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post
glyph name and postscript compatibility
This table provides some additional postscript information (italic angle), but mostly it provides names for all glyphs.
prep
cvt program
FontForge never generatest this table itself, but it will retain it when reading other fonts, and it allows users to edit it.
prop
glyph properties
Provides the unicode properties of each glyph for an Apple font. This table bears some similarities to the GDEF table.
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TeX
TeX information
This table is unique to FontForge and is for use by TeX. I describe its format here.
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vhea
vertical header
FontForge generates this table for fonts with vertical metrics. This table contains font-wide vertical metric information.
vmtx
vertical metrics
FontForge generates this table for fonts with vertical metrics. This contains the per-glyph vertical metrics.