devicedependent

Devicedependent is a term used in computing and typography to describe content whose representation is determined by the characteristics of a specific output or display device. In practice, this means that colors, resolution, gamma, bit depth, font rendering, and other rendering parameters may vary between devices, causing the same data to appear differently on different hardware or software configurations.

Device-dependent assets contrast with device-independent assets, which are designed to render consistently across devices. For example, a bitmap font stored as device-specific rasters, or a color image rendered using a particular printer's color profile, is device-dependent. In contrast, vector fonts and color management workflows aim to be device-independent or provide profiles to map colors to a target device.

In typesetting and printing, device-dependent fonts or bitmaps are rasterized at the device's resolution and with its own hinting and subpixel layout, which can yield optimal results on that device but reduce portability. In digital imaging, device-dependent color spaces and ICC profiles affect how colors are reproduced on a monitor, printer, or projector, so color conversion must account for device characteristics.

Developers and designers manage devicedependent content by choosing appropriate formats, providing fallbacks, and testing across devices. While device dependence can optimize quality for a specific device, it complicates cross-device consistency and long-term accessibility, which is why many modern workflows emphasize device-independent representations and color-managed pipelines.