A Technical Look at Font Types: TTF, OTF, WOFF, EOT & SVG

There are many font formats such as EOT, TTF, SVG, WOFF or WOFF2. Despite so many options, it is hard to talk about a single font format that works across all browsers. In this content, we will try to explain exactly what we mean.

Which Browsers Support Which Font Formats?
Although many browsers share several formats in common, there is no single format common to all of them. Here are some well-known browsers and the formats they support:
Internet Explorer 8 version: EOT
Internet Explorer 9-11 versions: EOT, OTF/TTF, WOFF 
Microsoft Edge 12-14 versions: OTF/TTF, WOFF
Firefox 40-45 versions: OTF/TTF, WOFF, WOFF2
Chrome 43-49 versions: OTF/TTF, WOFF, WOFF2
Safari 8-9 versions: OTF/TTF, WOFF, SVG
Opera 32-35 versions: OTF/TTF, WOFF, WOFF2
iOS Safari 8.4-9.1 versions: OTF/TTF, WOFF, SVG
Android 4.4 version: OTF/TTF, WOFF
Chrome for Android 4.6 version: OTF/TTF, WOFF, WOFF2
We have indicated the font formats for many browsers above, but what do they do? Let us take a closer look at what these formats are and what they are used for.

TTF, also known as TrueType Font
You might be surprised  but this format was developed by Apple to respond to Microsoft. Developed in the late 1980s in response to Microsoft's PostScript font, TTF is the most widely used font on Mac and Windows systems. All mainstream browsers therefore support TTF. Of course, there is one exception: Internet Explorer 8 does not support TTF, and for version 9 it is offered as a downloadable option  Quite surprising, is not it!

The biggest advantage of TTF is that it allows the simplest and most convenient management for digital rights. By this we mean being able to embed text in PDFs and websites directly at the point of use. Although it is clear in terms of permissions, leaving certain loopholes open is one of its biggest issues. Another problem is that content in TTF/OTF format is not compressed, which leads to larger data volumes. As you can guess, this is not particularly desirable .

OpenType Font, OTF
It would not be wrong to call OpenType an improved version of TTF. Introduced by Adobe and Microsoft, this font enables font data for screens and printers to be sourced from a single point. It also has important capabilities such as an extended character set and support for multiple platforms. OTF can be used on Macintosh and Windows operating systems.
In addition to all of this, OTF allows storage of up to 65,000 characters. This capability opens the door for designers to produce alternative characters and create different extensions.

Embedded Open Type, EOT 
Embedded Open Type font was designed by our dear Microsoft for use on the web. One of the goals of this design was to address the copyright loopholes that TTF and OTF structures created in web publishing. 
EOT has a structure that creates new fonts from existing TTF/OTF fonts using Microsoft tools. This method makes subsetting and compression possible. One of TTF's biggest shortcomings, that it cannot be compressed and takes up too much space, is also overcome in this way. In addition, subsetting also provides better copyright protection. Everything you have read so far sounds great, we know, but... EOT is only used by Internet Explorer

WOFF, Web Open Font Format
 In short, WOFF can be described as OTF or TTF with metadata and compression capability. With that, it is supported by the browsers with the largest user base. It should also be added that, as the name suggests, WOFF was created for use on the web. Mozilla, Opera and Microsoft collaborated on its development. 
Because WOFF is compressible, it leads to faster page loading. The metadata it contains also addresses copyright issues by including the license data of the font files. Recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium, this font is referred to as the future of font formats. 
And WOFF2 (yes, you guessed it ) is the next generation of WOFF. It provides 30% more compression compared to the other format. Its biggest issue at the moment is that it does not yet have the broad support network of WOFF.

Scalable Vector Graphics Font, SVG
You may have seen the SVG format before in images or photo files. SVG font is used to define the typefaces in SVG files. Although the format, which has a structure similar to an SVG image, does not provide hinting for the typefaces, it offers glyph keys and a structure that can downsample the SVG image. SVG fonts do not provide a useful environment for body text; they do not allow word or letter selection in the text and only allow either the entire line or the entire paragraph to be selectable. While this can be challenging for readers in terms of loading, it has properties that prevent copying
Finally, regarding SVG fonts, one thing to note is that if your target is all iPhone or iPad users, SVG is your only option. Only this format is supported in the Safari application of iOS versions 4.1 and below.