How to use Open Type Fonts in Java?

Question

Is there a way to read Open Type fonts in Java the same way as I do with TrueType fonts?

This works perfectly for TTF but I did not figure out yet how to do the same with Open Type fonts.

Font f = Font.createFont( Font.TRUETYPE_FONT,
new FileInputStream("f.ttf") );

Please note I cannot relay on installed fonts. I provide the font with my program but don't want to install it system wide.

Solution 1

I don't think there is Open Type Font support in java (not free atleast), iText claimed to have such support, tried it a few month ago and it didn't work, what worked for me is a program called FontForge which I used to create a ttf from the otf which I then used.

Solution 2

Java OpenType font support depends on your OS and JDK version.

Prior to Java 6, you can only use TrueType flavored OpenType fonts. With Java 6 you can use all OpenType fonts but you won't benefit from advanced typographic features like ligatures.

Solution 3

Open Type (.otf) font files are not supported in Java 1.6. From Java 1.7, support is added:

Font font = Font.createFont(Font.TRUETYPE_FONT, new File("MyFont.otf"));
font  = font.deriveFont(Font.BOLD, 40);

label.setFont(font);

More details:

• http://bugs.java.com/view_bug.do?bug_id=6992611
• http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/webnotes/adoptionGuide/#swing

Solution 4

I've used a font-converter to convert the OTF to a TTF file. There are some online-services out there (like www.freefontconverter.com ) which do the job. For me this was a fast and simple workaround.

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Comments

[Emmanuel Bourg]

The converted font may look different, that's not recommended.