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Formatting Information — An introduction to typesetting with LATEX

Appendix B: Installing new fonts

In this appendix…

  1. Installing METAFONT fonts
  2. TrueType and OpenType fonts

Fonts come in a variety of formats. The most commonly used with TEX systems used to be PostScript Type 3 (METAFONT) and Type 1 (PS) fonts, but the XƎLATEX and LuaLATEX processors now let you use fonts in TrueType and its successor OpenType formats. How you install them and where they go depends on how you installed LATEX: all I can deal with here are the standard locations within the TDS. These typefaces come supplied as one or more font ‘outline’ files and sometimes a number of ancillary files:

METAFONT typefaces

These have a number of .mf source (outline) files and possibly also some .fd (font definition) files. There may be .tfm (TEX Font Metric) files but these are not needed at installation, as they get generated from the outlines automatically the first time you use the font. A .sty file (if present) is used in a \usepackage command to tell LATEX what font files to use.

PostScript typefaces

These come as a pair of files per font (so there may be many for a whole typeface): a .pfb (PostScript font binary) or .pfa (PostScript font ASCII) outline, and an .afm (Adobe Font Metric) file. There may also be .inf and other files but these are not needed for use with TEX systems. A .sty file (if present) is used in a \usepackage command to tell LATEX what font files to use.

TrueType and OpenType typefaces

These are a single .ttf or .otf file per font (so there may be many for a whole typeface), which combines outlines and metrics in one file. A .sty file (if present) is used in a \usepackage command to tell LATEX what font files to use.

The instructions for Type 1 and METAFONT typefaces here assume the use of the New Font Selection Scheme (NFSS) used in LATEX. If you are running the obsolete LATEX 2.09, please upgrade it now, otherwise none of this will work.

  1. On UNIX & GNU/Linux systems, including Apple Macintosh OS X, the easiest way to do this is in a Terminal window, in your Personal TEX Directory, using the command mkdir -p fonts/source/public/whatever, as this creates any intervening subdirectories for you. Under Windows, you have to create each subsubdirectory individually.