System information

Type 1 fonts have the following characteristics:
• They are smaller in file size than TrueType fonts, which means that they occupy less space on
your system’s hard disk.
• Being outline fonts, Type 1 fonts are scalable to almost any size. They remain sharp and smooth
on any platform and in print, and their legibility remains good, even when printed at small point
sizes on low-resolution laser printers.
• PostScript Type 1 fonts are commonly used in professional publishing environments and are
supported by most high-end output devices, because most of these devices use PostScript as
their page description language.
• A PostScript Type 1 font is stored in two separate files: one which contains the character outlines
and one which contains the font metric data. In Microsoft Windows, you can recognize these by
their extensions: *.pfb (Printer Font Binary file) for the character outline and *.pfm (Printer
Font Metrics file) for the one containing the metric data. The former (.pfb) is commonly called
the printer font, the latter (.pfm) is also known as the screen font. The combined file size of
both files, however, is smaller than the file size of its TrueType counterpart. The file size of the
PostScript font may sometimes even be as little as half of the size of the corresponding TrueType
font.
• You can recognize a PostScript Type 1 font by the following icons:
PostScript Type 1 font in Microsoft Windows
PostScript Type 1 font in the Mac OS
PostScript Type 3 fonts
PostScript Type 3 fonts are primarily decorative ornaments fonts with a lot of tonal variations and
filled-and-stroked objects in the same character. Indeed, Type 3 fonts can have grayscale fills and
strokes and other “special effects”, whereas Type 1 or TrueType fonts are entirely black.
Consequently, Type 3 fonts have the following characteristics:
• Their file size is bigger than the corresponding of Type 1 or TrueType fonts.
• They may take longer to print or output.
• They look worse than Type 1 or TrueType fonts in very small point sizes and when printed at
low resolutions.
TrueType fonts
The TrueType font format was developed by Apple Computer as an alternative to the Adobe Type 1
standard. It is used both on Macintosh and Windows computers.
Like PostScript Type 1 fonts, TrueType fonts also use outlines to describe the letter shapes.
TrueType fonts have the following characteristics:
• Their use is widespread and they are integrated in almost every desktop office software program
for Microsoft Windows or Macintosh systems.
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