PostScript Type 1 versus TrueType

This is the condensed version of the history of TrueType... TrueType was created by Apple. The TrueType raster engine was created by Microsoft. The two companies banded together in reaction to Adobe who was getting millions of dollars in royalties for it's Postscript technology used in every pc and mac.

In short, TrueType was borne out of a need for a better and cheaper font technology. It was Apple and Microsoft's way of dealing with Adobe who was trying to control the font technology across both leading platforms. In most cases, the two technologies are the same as far as the end product is concenred, only the mathematics of how they produce the characters onscreen or on paper is different.

Most graphic studios are PostScript Type 1 enviroments. Most have recognized problems with mixing the two technologies while some proponents of TrueType suggest that the two formats can be mixed safely. Part of this discrepency lies within the output device itself.

Older output devices do not recognize TrueType technology. Sometimes, jobs with TrueType fonts will get "dumped" by the interpreter. Another problem is with Postscript pure enviroments which occurrs when TrueType fonts are swapped out for Postscript type 1 fonts. Text re-flow and the character matching is rarely bang-on. A good example of poor font matching is the font Impact.

These samples of PostScript (left) Impact and TrueType (right) Impact clearly show the main differences in these two variations. Suprisingly, both blocks of type are at the same point size! So when PostScript Type 1 pure studios swap out TrueType for PostScript, they will suddenly find the type no longer fitting. (To be clear, Impact is a beautiful face. It's the TrueType technology that describes it, I find offensive.)

PostScript Type 1 fonts pre-date TrueType by about 6 years. TrueType was rushed out the door by Apple and Microsoft. PostScript is an old technology that studios have relied on for years. TrueType can be buggy and there's no guaranteed match for every PostScript Type 1 font. TrueType was created in the middle of a cost war between Apple and Microsoft versus Adobe.

As far as which one you choose, keep in mind that most studios have decided to stick with PostScript Type 1 fonts. Very few use TrueType as their primary font technology.