TrueType

TrueType is a font technology developed by Apple and later adopted by Microsoft to create scalable, high-quality typefaces for both print and screen. Introduced in 1991 as part of Apple’s System 7, TrueType uses quadratic Bézier curves for glyph outlines and a built‑in hinting system to improve legibility on low‑resolution displays.

A TrueType font file contains a set of data tables that describe how to render each character. Key tables include glyf for the glyph outlines, cmap for mapping character codes to glyphs, and head, hhea, hmtx, maxp, name, OS/2, and post for metadata and metrics. The font also stores hinting programs in the fpgm, prep, and cvt tables, which guide grid fitting and rasterization at specific sizes and resolutions.

Historically, TrueType aimed to provide cross‑platform consistency, enabling the same font to render similarly on Macintosh and Windows systems. Apple introduced the format in the early 1990s to compete with Adobe’s Type 1/PostScript technology, and Microsoft soon supported TrueType for Windows, cementing its role as a dominant font format on personal computers.

In the late 1990s, OpenType emerged as a unifying font standard from Microsoft and Adobe. OpenType can use either TrueType outlines or PostScript/CFF outlines, and it supports advanced typographic features through its layout tables. Today, TrueType remains widely used, particularly in fonts distributed as .ttf, and it laid the groundwork for modern digital typography on desktop and mobile platforms.