Testing font converters

Hello.

One of the functions of our service is the ability to download the converted font. At the same time, we want to offer fonts in optimal quality. And in order to make this possible, we tested the most popular font converters available online, without registration and for free.

Although in fact there are already a great many converters, not everyone can turn otf \ ttf into woff \ eot \ svg. There are specialized services that work with other formats (.pfb, .dfont, etc.).

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We have selected some of the most popular.

Fontsquirrel
Font2web
Everything fonts
Online font converter
FreeFontConverter
The latter could not be tested, because after submitting the form, threw out the 500th error.

In order for testing to be somewhat visual, something must be compared with something. The original web version of the Paratype PT Sans company font in regular and bold styles was taken as a reference.

Chrome 33.0.1750, Firefox 28, and IE9 browsers in Win7 also participated in the testing. Font format everywhere woff, as the most popular and supported.

Let's start with browsers rendering converted fonts

16kp size

From obvious flaws.
In the font bold in Fontsquirrel there is an unpleasant flooding of small parts of the font. An example clearly . Font2web darkens the outline of characters ( example ).
Two other converters coped with the task almost perfectly.

Size 20pc

As you can see, Fontsquirrel badly spoiled the regular, but managed to cope with the car as a whole normally. Font2web continued to wash outlines of signs. Everything Fonts and Online font converter coped with the task quite well.

The next item is usability and the capabilities of the converters themselves.

I planned to create a sign with a detailed description, but it turned out that apart from Fontsquirrel, none at all has any settings. Therefore, we will compare differently.

	several files at once	css	source formats	formats	file size (original 224kb)	waivers
Fontsquirrel	Yes	Yes	ttf, otf	ttf, woff, eot, svg	41kb with limited character range	there is
Font2web	not	Yes	ttf, otf	ttf, otf, woff, eot, svg	78kb	not
Everything fonts	not	Yes	ttf, otf	ttf, woff, eot, svg	137kb	not
Online font converter	not	not	ttf, otf (and a bunch of others)	ttf, woff, eot, svg	136kb	not

Total

Based on the results of rendering and the possibilities of converters, we can say the following.

The most popular - Fontsquirrel - is convenient, allows you to fine-tune the result (including optimizing the weight of the file) produces a single archive and css, but spoils the fonts. Moreover, the corruption is unpredictable and can manifest itself both on a certain size and in a certain style. In addition, the converter sometimes refuses to convert the font, referring to its blacklist or damage to the original file.

Font2Web, in our humble opinion, should not be used at all. He spoils the fonts in general always. Everything else allows you to convert only one file.

Everything Fonts showed itself from a rather good side in terms of rendering close to the original. The size of the font file is most likely formed by some kind of optimization, since Visually, no deviations were found with the original in the presence of signs. His 137kb, of course, is not 220 original, but reloading the extra letters is reluctant. Of the obvious disadvantages - converting one file at a time.

Online font converter was extremely inconvenient in terms of use. It has its own archive for each format. For example, for one typeface there will be three archives: with woff, ttf and eot. However, compensated for all the good rendering.

What about us

We use and continue to use Fontsquirrel for now. At the same time, they decided to develop their own tool, which would not spoil the fonts much and make it possible to adjust the necessary options when converting.

If someone has other converters found in stock, write in the comments with an explanation, I will add a list with your note.

Thanks for attention.