Fonts are one of the important elements in this advanced digital world, especially for those of you who work in the field of writing and design. For this reason, you may often find OTF and TTF formats in a font. So, what is the difference between OTF vs TTF?Â
The two fonts above are arguably the most widely used font types in these recent days. At first glance, these two font formats have almost no difference at all. Look at the example below:
Did you spot the difference between OTF vs TTF in the example above? If not, please have a look at our explanation below. We’ll guide you through the differences between these two font formats.
Get To Know OTF
OTF is an abbreviation of OpenType Font, a computer font format developed by Adobe and Microsoft in the 1990s to achieve digital font standards. Both companies envisioned a font that could be compatible across platforms while supporting all digital writing systems.
The OTF format combines the characteristics of PostScript as the basic structure and TrueType for more complex structures. Because of this, it can store up to 65,000 characters, letters, numbers, and even symbols.
On top of that, this OpenType Font format also provides various advanced typesetting features, such as ligatures, stylistic alternates, and many more. Better yet, this format font also features Unicode character encoding, designed to support a wide range of languages.
Just as said before, OTF is a scalable font format, which means the font can be resized while still maintaining its quality. With that in mind, this font format is commonly used in design software like Photoshop and CorelDraw.
Get To Know TTF
On the other hand, TTF stands for TrueType Font. TTF is a font format developed by Apple in collaboration with Microsoft in the late 1980s. This type of font format is also one of the fonts which still often used today.
For its structure, TTF comes with two files, the TrueType file used for the screen and the PostScript file used for printing. With these two file structures combined, it will make it easier for you to install new fonts.
Generally, TTF can be found on both Mac and Windows, and there are some browsers that use this font format as well.
Also Read: What Is Leading In Typography? With Rules and Examples
Difference Between OTF vs TTF
The most significant thing that separates these two fonts is their competence.
TTF only relies on glyph tables to determine the appearance of each character. On the other hand, OTF combines glyphs with Compact Font Format (CFF).
Because of this combination, OTF is the most ideal font choice for people who work as graphic designers. Why? Because this font format offers more flexibility to customize various characters in editing software.
To conclude, TTF is the most ideal font type for both system and document typing. Meanwhile, OTF is a font type that is ideal for graphic design and people who work in the field of design.
OTF vs TTF: Which Is Better?
When comparing OTF vs TTF, and deciding which one is better, the answer will depend on your needs. Overall, the OTF or OpenType Font format is the most preferred and recommended choice by most people and designers.
Why is that? Because the OTF format offers more extensive design-related features than TTF. Plus, this font format has much better readability for use on various platforms and devices.
However, for non-designers or ordinary users who need fonts only for daily tasks, then TrueType Font or TTF format is a reasonable choice.
Advantages of OTF Files
Previously, we pointed out that OTF files have features that are superior to TTF files. Well, here we summarize those advantages in bullet points.
- Comes with advanced typographic features such as ligatures, stylistic alternates, special characters, and more
- OTF files have a smaller size than TTF files
- This font format has better compression and readability across multiple platforms and devices
- Ideal for designers
- Features Unicode character encoding which is ideal for a wide variety of languages
Also Read: Choosing the Right Font: Should You Care About The Difference Between Serif And Sans Serif?
Have You Understood About OTF vs TTF?
When you are choosing a font format for your work and projects, OpenType Font or OTF is the most ideal choice. With its wide range of advanced features and flexibility, this font format is the best.
However, if you don’t need the above features due to your needs that are only limited to writing, then TTF is a reasonable choice. All in all, we hope our guidelines might be helpful to you.Â
