Is OTF better than TTF?

Not for setting text: both are OpenType fonts and can carry the same layout features. They differ in the curves that draw the letters, cubic in most .otf files and quadratic in a .ttf, and in the hinting TrueType carries.

Can I convert a TTF to an OTF?

Yes, with a font editor or a tool such as fontTools: quadratic curves become cubic ones exactly. The other way, cubic to quadratic, is approximated. Check the font’s licence first, as some forbid changing its files.

Should I install the TTF or the OTF version of a font?

Either: Windows and macOS install both, and your apps see the same font. If a download offers both, install one of them, not both.

TTF vs OTF

Lesson 08 · 3 min read · Updated 1 October 2026

TTF and OTF are both OpenType fonts. A .ttf file holds TrueType outlines, drawn with quadratic curves; an .otf usually holds PostScript outlines, in a table called CFF, drawn with cubic curves. For setting text they do the same job: install whichever the font comes in.

Outline

51points, quadratic

DM Sans · S51 points stored: 14 on the outline and 37 control points. 25 more points on the outline are implied, not stored.

■ On the outline○ Control point□ Implied, not stored

Points a letter of DM Sans takes
Letter	S	e	g	a	R	&	2
.ttf, quadratic	51	38	78	49	26	57	32
Cubic	38	32	64	41	24	49	23

What is the difference between TTF and OTF?

The extension names the kind of outline inside. TrueType outlines, in a table called glyf, are made of straight lines and quadratic Bézier curves, one control point to a curve. PostScript outlines, in the CFF table, use cubic Bézier curves, two control points to a curve. The OpenType specification asks for .otf on a font with CFF outlines and allows either name on one with TrueType outlines, and it tells software to read the outlines from the file, not from its name.

Every quadratic curve can be redrawn exactly as a cubic one, but a cubic curve turned quadratic is approximated, often by several. The board shows DM Sans’s S both ways: its .ttf stores 51 points, and the same outline in cubic curves needs 38.

What is the difference between TrueType and OpenType?

TrueType is the older format. Apple developed it in the late 1980s and released it with System 7 in 1991, as a rival to Adobe’s Type 1 fonts, and Microsoft put it in Windows 3.1 the next year. TrueType fonts carry their own hinting: small programs, run as the text is drawn, that fit the outlines to a grid of pixels.

OpenType grew out of TrueType at Microsoft, with Adobe joining by its announcement in 1996: the same structure of tables, room for either kind of outline, Unicode for every script, and layout features such as ligatures, small capitals and kerning. So a font with TrueType outlines is a TrueType font and an OpenType font at once. Variable fonts joined OpenType in 2016, with version 1.8.

Should you install the TTF or the OTF?

Whichever the font comes in. Windows and macOS install both kinds, and apps that use the fonts on your computer, from Word to Cricut Design Space, see the same font either way. Canva’s paid plans upload .otf and .ttf alike. If a download offers both, one is enough.

Where they differ, it is in the making. A designer who draws in cubic curves can ship the .otf as drawn and a .ttf converted from it; the converter approximates each curve, which is where the extra points come from. Every file FontKind measures from Google Fonts, Fontsource and Fontshare is a .ttf; the fonts that libre foundries and designers publish themselves come as both.

Which is better for a website?

Neither, as it is: a website serves the font as WOFF2, the same OpenType font packed smaller, which the browser unpacks into the file it was made from. WOFF vs WOFF2 weighs the difference.

.ttf: TrueType outlines, quadratic curves, hinting built in.
.otf: usually CFF outlines, cubic curves; may hold TrueType outlines too.
Both: OpenType, with the same layout features.
On the web: neither; serve .woff2.

Try it in the game

Rounds 02, 08
The balance test: The taller shape
Whatever curves draw it, an O is made taller than an H to look as tall: scale it until it does.

Fonts to open

Sans serif
DM Sans
Sans · the board’s S, from its .ttf
Sans serif
Inter
Sans · 2,933 glyphs in its upright .ttf

Questions

Is OTF better than TTF?: Not for setting text: both are OpenType fonts and can carry the same layout features. They differ in the curves that draw the letters, cubic in most .otf files and quadratic in a .ttf, and in the hinting TrueType carries.
Can I convert a TTF to an OTF?: Yes, with a font editor or a tool such as fontTools: quadratic curves become cubic ones exactly. The other way, cubic to quadratic, is approximated. Check the font’s licence first, as some forbid changing its files.
Should I install the TTF or the OTF version of a font?: Either: Windows and macOS install both, and your apps see the same font. If a download offers both, install one of them, not both.
What is the difference between TrueType and OpenType?: TrueType is Apple’s 1991 format with quadratic outlines and built-in hinting. OpenType, from Microsoft and Adobe in 1996, extends it: either TrueType or CFF outlines, Unicode, and layout features such as ligatures and kerning.

Sources

More to learn

Kerning
Drag a letter into place, then see how the typeface spaces the pair.
Ligatures
Switch ligatures on and off in real fonts, from fi to code arrows.
Glyphs
One character, 24 glyphs: see what a font actually draws.
Serif vs sans serif
The same letters in both, measured: serifs, contrast and when to use each.
Types of fonts
Five kinds of fonts and the styles inside each, in free fonts you can open.
Font anatomy
Pick a part of a letter to light it up, from the x-height to the overshoot.
Font vs typeface
One typeface, 36 fonts, two files: the design and what carries it.
WOFF vs WOFF2
The same font packed for the web: six popular fonts weighed in each format.

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