Web Font Formats

Fontisan supports conversion to web-optimized formats (WOFF and WOFF2) for optimal web delivery.

Overview

Format	Compression	Browser Support	Use Case
WOFF	zlib	All modern browsers	Wide compatibility
WOFF2	brotli	Modern browsers	Smallest size

WOFF2

WOFF2 provides 30-50% smaller files than TTF/OTF.

Conversion

# Basic WOFF2 conversion
fontisan convert font.ttf --to woff2 --output font.woff2

# From any format
fontisan convert font.otf --to woff2 --output font.woff2
fontisan convert font.pfb --to woff2 --output font.woff2

Recommended Options

Fontisan::ConversionOptions.from_preset(:web_optimized)
# From: :otf, To: :woff2
# opening: {}
# generating: { compression: "brotli", transform_tables: true,
#              optimize_tables: true, preserve_metadata: true }

WOFF2 Benefits

• 30-50% smaller than TTF/OTF
• Broader browser support
• Preprocessing transforms for better compression

WOFF

WOFF provides wider compatibility with older browsers.

Conversion

# Basic WOFF conversion
fontisan convert font.ttf --to woff --output font.woff

Options

options = Fontisan::ConversionOptions.new(
  to: :woff,
  generating: {
    compression: "zlib",
    preserve_metadata: true,
    add_private_data: false
  }
)

web_optimized Preset

Optimize fonts for web delivery:

Fontisan::ConversionOptions.from_preset(:web_optimized)
# From: :otf, To: :woff2
# opening: {}
# generating: { compression: "brotli", transform_tables: true,
#              optimize_tables: true, preserve_metadata: true }

Use Cases

• Web font delivery
• Reducing page load time
• Bandwidth optimization

Type 1 → Web Fonts

Convert legacy Type 1 fonts to web formats.

Workflow

Type 1 → OTF → WOFF2

CLI

# Direct conversion
fontisan convert font.pfb --to woff2 --output font.woff2 --preset type1_to_modern

# Step by step
fontisan convert font.pfb --to otf --output font.otf --generate-unicode
fontisan convert font.otf --to woff2 --output font.woff2

Options

# Via OTF intermediate
options = Fontisan::ConversionOptions.new(
  opening: { decompose_composites: false, generate_unicode: true },
  generating: { compression: "brotli" }  # WOFF2
  # OR: generating: { compression: "zlib" }    # WOFF
)

Compression Options

brotli (WOFF2)

generating: { compression: "brotli" }

• Best compression ratio
• Requires modern browsers
• Transforms tables for better compression

zlib (WOFF)

generating: { compression: "zlib" }

• Good compression
• Wide browser support
• No table transforms

none

generating: { compression: "none" }

• No compression
• For debugging

Table Transforms

WOFF2 supports table transformations for better compression:

Table	Transform
glyf	Combined with loca, bbox deltas
hmtx	Combined with hhea
CFF	De-subroutinization

options = Fontisan::ConversionOptions.new(
  to: :woff2,
  generating: { transform_tables: true }
)

Metadata Handling

Preserve Metadata

fontisan convert font.ttf --to woff2 --preserve-metadata

Keeps copyright, license, and other metadata intact.

Strip Metadata

fontisan convert font.ttf --to woff2 --strip-metadata

Removes metadata for smaller file size (check license first).

Examples

Complete Web Font Workflow

require 'fontisan'

# Load source
font = Fontisan::FontLoader.load('source.ttf')

# Create WOFF2
woff2_options = Fontisan::ConversionOptions.from_preset(:web_optimized)
Fontisan::FontWriter.write(font, 'font.woff2', options: woff2_options)

# Create WOFF for older browsers
woff_options = Fontisan::ConversionOptions.new(
  to: :woff,
  generating: { compression: "zlib", preserve_metadata: true }
)
Fontisan::FontWriter.write(font, 'font.woff', options: woff_options)

Batch Web Conversion

# Convert all TTF files to WOFF2
for f in fonts/*.ttf; do
  fontisan convert "$f" --to woff2 --output "web/$(basename "${f%.ttf}.woff2")"
done

Compare File Sizes

# Check file sizes
ls -la font.ttf font.woff font.woff2

# Example output:
# -rw-r--r--  font.ttf    124,500 bytes
# -rw-r--r--  font.woff    98,200 bytes   (21% smaller)
# -rw-r--r--  font.woff2   62,300 bytes   (50% smaller)

Browser Support

Browser	WOFF	WOFF2
Chrome	5+	36+
Firefox	3.6+	35+
Safari	5.1+	12+
Edge	All	14+
IE	9+	—

For maximum compatibility, provide both WOFF and WOFF2.