SVG Fonts

SVG fonts define glyphs using SVG graphics.

Overview

• Format: SVG document
• Features: Full SVG capabilities
• Use Case: Specialized applications

Structure

SVG fonts are SVG documents with font definitions:

<svg>
  <font>
    <font-face font-family="MyFont"/>
    <glyph unicode="A" d="M0 0 L100 0..."/>
  </font>
</svg>

Loading

font = Fontisan::FontLoader.load('font.svg')

# Access glyphs
font.glyphs.each do |glyph|
  puts glyph.unicode
  puts glyph.path_data
end

Creating

SVG fonts can be created manually or with tools:

# Export to SVG
Fontisan::FontWriter.write(font, 'output.svg', format: :svg)

Converting

SVG to TTF

fontisan convert font.svg --to ttf --output font.ttf

SVG to OTF

fontisan convert font.svg --to otf --output font.otf

From other formats

fontisan convert font.ttf --to svg --output font.svg

Limitations

• No hinting — SVG has no hint support
• Large files — XML overhead
• Limited layout — No GSUB/GPOS
• Variable support — No variable fonts

SVG vs COLR/CPAL

Feature	SVG Font	COLR/CPAL
File size	Large	Small
Effects	Full	Limited
Browser support	Good	Good
Variable fonts	No	Yes
Performance	Slow	Fast

When to Use

• SVG workflows — Integration with SVG graphics
• Special effects — Complex visual effects
• Legacy content — Existing SVG fonts

Modern Alternatives

For most uses, prefer:

• COLR/CPAL — Color fonts
• WOFF2 — Web delivery
• OTF/TTF — General use