Font embedding is the inclusion of

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

files inside an

electronic document An electronic document is a document that can be sent in non-physical means, such as telex, email, and the internet. Originally, any computer data were considered as something internal—the final data output was always on paper. However, the ...

for display across different platforms. Font embedding is controversial because it allows licensed fonts to be freely distributed.

History

Font embedding has been possible with

Portable Document Format Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating syste ...

(PDF), Microsoft Word for Windows and some other applications for many years. LibreOffice supports font embedding since version 4.1 in its

Writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, Calc and Impress applications.

In word processors

Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processor program, word processing program developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platf ...

for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

has permitted font embedding in some document formats since Word 97 (such as .doc or .rtf). But this feature does not work correctly in some Word versions. LibreOffice supports font embedding since version 4.1. This feature is available for

LibreOffice Writer LibreOffice Writer is the free and open-source Word processor program, word processor and desktop publishing component of the LibreOffice suite and is a Fork (software development), fork of OpenOffice.org#Components, OpenOffice.org Writer. Writer ...

, the spreadsheet application

LibreOffice Calc LibreOffice Calc is the spreadsheet component of the LibreOffice suite. After forking from OpenOffice.org in 2010, LibreOffice Calc underwent a massive re-work of external reference handling to fix many defects in formula calculations involvi ...

, and the presentation application LibreOffice Impress. Both OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice support font embedding in the

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

export feature. Font embedding in word processors is not widely supported nor interoperable. For example, if a .rtf file made in Microsoft Word is opened in LibreOffice Writer, it will usually remove the embedded fonts.

On the Web

Browsers

Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated as IE or MSIE) is a deprecation, retired series of graphical user interface, graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft that were u ...

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curr ...

Safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

and

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, an ...

support automatic downloading of fonts used on a website using CSS2 or CSS3.

Controversy

Font embedding is a controversial practice because it allows copyrighted fonts to be freely distributed. The controversy can be mitigated by only embedding the characters required to view the document (''subsetting''). This reduces file size but prohibits adding previously unused characters to the document. Because of the potential for copyright infringement,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

only permits embedded fonts that include

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...

(DRM) protections. The Acid3 test requires font embedding with minimal DRM protections.

References

Digital typography {{digital-typography-stub

History

In word processors

On the Web

Controversy

See also

References