Elektrine lite

← Feed

@drj@typo.social

Post #2521663

2026-05-14 10:20 UTC

Bitmap fonts, eh? What's your favourite font format? Yes, i know about TrueType (though examples would be welcome), BDF, Windows FON (a bit), Adobe BDF (a bit), Plan 9. Please RT. #BitmapFont

Replies (11)

  • @tyalie@chaos.social 2026-05-14 10:35

    @drj@typo.social uf1, uf2 or uf3 :D https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/ufx_format.html

    Open ##2710161

  • @yomimono@wandering.shop 2026-05-14 10:50

    @drj@typo.social I have enjoyed working with YAFF, the format used for https://github.com/robhagemans/hoard-of-bitfonts . There is also the OpenType bitmap format, which is one of many provided by VileR’s archive at https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/ . I’ve also worked a bit with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Screen_Font but the corpus is less exciting to me, so I haven’t thought about it in a while.

    Open ##2710167

  • @domi@donotsta.re 2026-05-14 10:52

    @drj@typo.social BMP

    Open ##2710170

  • @6@possum.city 2026-05-14 10:56

    @drj@typo.social there's always the good ol' .hex format too! fontforge's SFD technically counts idk i don't do fonts that much, i only happen to casually be interested and have just a couple gb of fonts lol bitmap fonts are hard to use nowdays so don't really delve into that

    Open ##2710175

  • @mhd@tilde.zone 2026-05-14 10:58

    @drj@typo.social Phew, I think when it comes to technical capabilities, the early Mac format(s) probably win (NFNT/FOND). Although that wasn't quite my timeline, so I'm not sure how well the advanced kerning capabilities were actually used. I still have a soft spot for the Unix ASCII formats, like .xpm for images, and that includes the BDF format for fonts. Adjusting a letter for your personal needs with a text editor is just neat.

    Open ##2710180

  • @sleuthgames@ludosphere.fr 2026-05-14 11:08

    @drj@typo.social Colorfonts for the Amiga was stunning for Video Titling. Multiples colors pixels, can even ben animated. There was some with Dpaint and later, a graphic designer named Klara create and sell more : Karafonts.

    Open ##2710183

  • @microblogc@neopaquita.es 2026-05-14 12:57

    @drj@typo.social What about IBM proprinter vertical dot matrix fonts? Weird format, since you couldn't put a dot in the same row in consecutive columns. https://jgmoyay.apagada.com/tipos2/Tipos2.htm

    Open ##2710186

  • @RealGene@hachyderm.io 2026-05-14 16:14

    @drj@typo.social Metagraphics .fnt https://www.metagraphics.com/metawindow/fonts/fnt-specs.htm

    Open ##2710188

  • @kalleboo@bitbang.social 2026-05-15 11:03

    @drj@typo.social I have fond memories of editing Macintosh NFNT resources using ResEdit as a kid!

    Open ##2710194

  • @drj@typo.social @kalleboo@bitbang.social ROM font in the Silentype interface card in the Apple ][ https://blog.europlus.zone/resources/silentype-font-v2-0-released/

    Open ##2710200

  • @paulvanderlaan@typo.social 2026-05-15 14:24

    @drj@typo.social FZX https://sinclair.wiki.zxnet.co.uk/wiki/FZX_format

    Open ##2710203