What is CFF?

Compact Font Format (CFF) is a PostScript-based font format used in PDF documents and professional printing for efficient font storage.

What is AFM?

Adobe Font Metrics (AFM) is a text file describing Type 1 font metrics including character widths, kerning pairs, and bounding boxes.

When Should You Use CFF vs AFM?

CFF vs AFM: Key Differences

• •CFF and AFM diverge on compression: lossless compression for the source, lossless compression for the target.
• •Both formats share lossless compression, so quality behavior is similar across the two — file size differences come from algorithm efficiency rather than compression philosophy.
• •How transparency is handled: AFM supports transparency, so alpha information is preserved during conversion.
• •Storage footprint: 15-100KB per font for CFF vs Very small, text-based metrics for AFM.
• •Primary audience: CFF is built for professional printing, pdf fonts scenarios, while AFM focuses on postscript font metrics, pdf font embedding — pick the format that matches your output requirement.

Advantages of CFF

• ✓At its core, CFF relies on lossless encoding — a design choice that makes it perfect for Professional printing, PDF fonts.
• ✓You won't run into compatibility issues with CFF — it's a universal standard across platforms.
• ✓File size management with CFF: larger files guaranteed to match the original exactly.
• ✓Every major application in the Professional printing, PDF fonts space supports CFF natively.

Advantages of AFM

• ✓AFM applies lossless compression specifically calibrated for PostScript font metrics, PDF font embedding.
• ✓AFM enjoys broad native support across operating systems, browsers, and creative tools alike.
• ✓AFM guarantees every bit of the original data survives — no approximations, no shortcuts.
• ✓You will find AFM support built into virtually every tool that handles PostScript font metrics, PDF font embedding — no plugins or converters needed.

Common Use Cases for CFF to AFM Conversion

• Print design
• Mobile apps
• Desktop publishing
• E-book formatting
• User interfaces
• Marketing materials

Industry Applications

Best Practices for CFF to AFM Conversion

• →Before converting CFF to AFM, review the font license — some licenses restrict format conversion
• →Check hinting data after conversion: AFM may handle TrueType hinting differently than CFF
• →Verify that all character sets (Latin, Cyrillic, CJK, etc.) survived the conversion intact
• →Test the converted font in both a browser and a desktop application
• →Keep the original font file in case the conversion alters spacing metrics

Troubleshooting CFF to AFM Conversion

• !AFM font doesn't render correctly → check if AFM supports all glyphs present in CFF
• !Licensing restrictions after CFF to AFM conversion → verify the font license allows format conversion
• !Hinting data lost converting CFF to AFM → some font formats like AFM may not preserve TrueType hinting
• !Special characters missing from converted AFM → font subsetting may have removed unused glyphs

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