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FontForge Python Module

FontForge is a powerful, open-source font editor. This package provides the Python bindings for FontForge, allowing you to create, edit, and convert fonts programmatically.

Installation

pip install fontforge

Quick Start

import fontforge

# Create a new font
font = fontforge.font()
font.familyname = "MyFont"
font.fontname = "MyFont-Regular"

# Create a glyph
glyph = font.createChar(ord('A'))
pen = glyph.glyphPen()
# Draw the glyph...

# Open an existing font
font = fontforge.open("path/to/font.ttf")

# Access glyphs
for glyph in font.glyphs():
    print(glyph.glyphname, glyph.unicode)

# Generate output
font.generate("output.otf")

Features

  • Read/Write Font Formats: OTF, TTF, UFO, Type1, WOFF, WOFF2, and more
  • Glyph Editing: Create and modify glyph outlines programmatically
  • OpenType Features: Build and manipulate GSUB/GPOS tables
  • Font Conversion: Convert between font formats
  • Metrics & Kerning: Set sidebearings, create kerning pairs
  • Validation: Check fonts for common issues
  • Batch Processing: Script operations across multiple fonts

Included Modules

This package installs two Python modules:

  • fontforge - The main font manipulation module
  • psMat - PostScript transformation matrix utilities
import fontforge
import psMat

# Create a transformation matrix (scale 2x)
matrix = psMat.scale(2.0)

# Apply to a glyph layer
glyph.transform(matrix)

Documentation

Requirements

  • Python 3.8 or later
  • No additional Python dependencies required

The wheel includes all required native libraries (FreeType, libxml2, etc.).

Platform Support

Pre-built wheels are available for:

  • Linux: x86_64, aarch64 (manylinux_2_28)
  • macOS: x86_64, arm64 (macOS 11.0+)
  • Windows: x86_64

Security Considerations

FontForge was designed for interactive use with trusted font files. The codebase has known vulnerabilities, including buffer overruns, that can cause crashes and may be exploitable. Do not process untrusted input without thorough sandboxing.

Building from Source

If no wheel is available for your platform, pip will attempt to build from source. This requires:

  • CMake 3.15+
  • C/C++ compiler
  • FreeType, libxml2, zlib development headers

See the build documentation for details.

FontForge Application

This package provides only the Python module. For the full FontForge GUI application, see:

License

FontForge is licensed under the GPLv3+.

Links