TrueType and OpenType tables supported by FontForge

Apple, MS and Adobe all have their descriptions of TrueType and OpenType. MS and Adobe’s versions are essentially the same, while Apple’s differ significantly from either.

name	long name	FontForge’s use	Apple docs	Adobe docs
avar	axis variation	Used to specify piecewise linear sections of axes for distortable fonts	avar
BASE	baseline data	Provides information on baseline positioning and per-script line heights in OpenType.		BASE
bsln	baseline data	Provides information on baseline positioning for AAT.	bsln
BDF	X11 BDF header	This table is not part of the official TrueType or OpenType specs. It contains the header information from old bdf fonts. I describe its format here.
bdat	bitmap data	Provides the actual bitmap data for all bitmap glyphs in Apple fonts. ‘EBDT’ is used by MS/Adobe instead (and has the same format)	bdat
bhed	bitmap font header	Replaces the ‘head’ table in Apple’s bitmap only fonts. (similar to ‘head’)	bhed
bloc	bitmap location data	Provides pointers to the appropriate bitmap data for each bitmap glyph in Apple fonts. ‘EBLC’ is used by MS/Adobe instead (and has the same format)	bloc
CFF	Compact Font Format	Provides all the outline data (and sometimes glyph names as well) for the PostScript Type2 font that is the heart of an OpenType font. Vaguely equivalent to ‘glyf’ , ‘loca’ and ‘post’ combined.		CFF
cmap	character code mapping	Provides at least one encoding from a stream of bytes to glyphs in the font. FontForge provides at least three encodings in every font (one for Mac Roman, one for Mac Unicode, one for MS Unicode). For some fonts it will additionally provide a CJK encoding (Big5, SJIS, etc) or an extended unicode encoding which will cover code points outside of the BMP. For fonts with special 1-byte encodings (such as symbol) it will provide a “symbol” encoding which maps a known page in the corporate use area to the glyphs.	cmap	cmap
cvar	variations on cvt table	Used to specify hinting differences in distortable fonts	cvar
cvt	control value table	FontForge uses this when it attempts to hint truetype fonts (FontForge will read it from a font and save it into another).	cvt	cvt
EBDT	embedded bitmap data	Provides the actual bitmap data for all bitmap glyphs in MS/Adobe fonts. ‘bdat’ is used by Apple instead (and has the same format)		EBDT
EBLC	embedded bitmap location	Provides pointers to the appropriate bitmap data for each bitmap glyph in MS/Adobe fonts. ‘bloc’ is used by Apple instead (and has the same format)		EBLC
EBSC	embedded bitmap scaling	Provides information on how to scale bitmaps (on those rare occasions where this is desirable). FontForge uses it when making bitmap only fonts for windows.	EBSC	EBSC
feat	layout feature table	Maps features specified in Apple’s ‘morx’ (or ‘mort’) tables into names provided in the ‘name’ table. FontForge generates this when it generates a ‘morx’ table.	feat
FFTM	FontForge timestamp	This table is unique to FontForge. It contains three timestamps: First FontForge’s version date, then when the font was generated, and when the font was created. I describe its format here.
fpgm	font program	FontForge never generates this, but it will preserve it and allows users to edit it.	fpgm	fpgm
fvar	font variations	Provides top level information about distortable fonts. Specifies the types of distortions possible.	fvar
gasp	grid-fitting and scan conversion	When FontForge does not attempt to hint a truetype font it will generate this table which tells the rasterizer not to to do grid-fitting (hinting) but to do anti-aliasing instead.	gasp	gasp
GDEF	glyph definition	Divides glyphs into various classes that make using the GPOS/GSUB tables easier. Also provides internal caret positions for ligatures. It is approximately equivalent to Apple’s ‘prop’ and ‘lcar’ tables combined.		GDEF
glyf	glyph outline	Provides outline information for truetype glyphs. Vaguely equivalent to ‘CFF ‘.	glyf	glyf
GPOS	glyph positioning	Provides kerning information, mark-to-base, etc. for opentype fonts. See the chapter on GPOS in FontForge for more information. Vaguely equivalent to ‘kern’ and ‘opbd’ tables.		GPOS
GSUB	glyph substitution	Provides ligature information, swash, etc. for opentype fonts. See the chapter on GSUB in FontForge for more information. Vaguely equivalent to ‘morx’.		GSUB
gvar	glyph variations	This table contains the meat of a distortable font. It specifies how each glyph can be distorted.	gvar
head	font header	Contains general font information, such as the size of the em-square, a time stamp, check sum information, etc.	head	head
hhea	horizontal header	This table contains font-wide horizontal metric information.	hhea	hhea
hmtx	horizontal metrics	This contains the per-glyph horizontal metrics.	hmtx	hmtx
kern	kerning	Provides kerning information for Apple’s truetype fonts (and for older MS truetype fonts). In OpenType fonts this information is contained in the GPOS table.	kern	kern
lcar	ligature caret	This table provides the location of carets within ligatures in an Apple font. This information is contained in the GDEF table in opentype fonts.	lcar
loca	glyph location	This provides a pointer into the ‘glyf’ table for each glyph in the font. It is required for truetype and meaningless for opentype (where vaguely equivalent information is provided in the CFF table).	loca	loca
MATH	mathematical typesetting	Provides general information needed for mathematical typesetting. This is a new table (August 2007) and there is currently no publicly available documentation for it.
maxp	maximum profile	Provides general “maximum” information about the font. This contains: the maximum number of glyphs in a font, the maximum number of points in a glyph, the maximum number of references in a glyph, etc.	maxp	maxp
mort	metamorphosis	FontForge will read this table but not generate it. This table has been replaced by the ‘morx’ table which will be generated instead. It is vaguely equivalent to the GSUB table.	mort
morx	extended metamorphosis	Provides ligature information, swash, etc. for apple’s truetype fonts. FontForge can read and write this table. See the chapter on morx in FontForge for more information. Vaguely equivalent to ‘GSUB’.	morx
name	name	Provides certain standard strings relevant to the font (font name, family name, license, etc.) in various languages. In Apple fonts also provides the names of various features of the ‘morx’/’mort’ table.	name	name
opbd	optical bounds	This table provides optical bound information for each glyph in the table in an Apple font. This information may also be provided in the GPOS table of an opentype font.	opbd
PfEd	FontForge’s personal table	This table is unique to FontForge. It can contain things like FontForge’s comments, and colors.I describe its format here.
post	glyph name and postscript compatibility	This table provides some additional postscript information (italic angle), but mostly it provides names for all glyphs.	post	post
prep	cvt program	FontForge never generatest this table itself, but it will retain it when reading other fonts, and it allows users to edit it.	prep	prep
prop	glyph properties	Provides the unicode properties of each glyph for an Apple font. This table bears some similarities to the GDEF table.	prop
TeX	TeX information	This table is unique to FontForge and is for use by TeX. I describe its format here.
vhea	vertical header	FontForge generates this table for fonts with vertical metrics. This table contains font-wide vertical metric information.	vhea	vhea
vmtx	vertical metrics	FontForge generates this table for fonts with vertical metrics. This contains the per-glyph vertical metrics.	vmtx	vmtx

Advanced Typography tables in FontForge