DFONT to CFF Converter

Turn Mac DFONT fonts into Compact Font Format online for free

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Lightweight Results

CFF compression produces significantly smaller font data than DFONT, making it ideal for embedding in documents and distributing online.

Data Protection

Your uploaded DFONT files are removed immediately after processing, and CFF output is deleted from servers within 24 hours for complete privacy.

Platform Freedom

Once converted from the Mac-only DFONT to CFF, your font data works in any environment that supports PostScript or OpenType outlines.

How to convert DFONT to CFF

1

Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.

2

Choose cff or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)

3

Let the file convert and you can download your cff file right afterwards

About formats

DFONT (Data Fork TrueType) is a font file format introduced by Apple with Mac OS X 10.0 in March 2001, created to solve a fundamental compatibility problem in the transition from classic Mac OS to the Unix-based OS X architecture. Classic Mac fonts stored glyph data in the resource fork — a secondary file stream specific to the HFS file system — but OS X's Unix foundation and its use of UFS had no native resource fork support. DFONT relocates the entire resource fork structure into the data fork, wrapping the same TrueType font tables in a resource map that standard OS X typography APIs can read. The file is essentially a resource-fork-less TrueType suitcase. Apple bundled DFONT as the default format for system fonts shipped with OS X, and it remains present in macOS system directories. One advantage is seamless backward compatibility with Apple's existing font rendering stack — the internal structure mirrors classic resource-fork fonts, so CoreText and its predecessors handle DFONTs without any special conversion path. The single-fork design is another practical strength, ensuring that DFONT files survive intact when stored on non-HFS volumes, transferred over networks, or managed by version control systems. While Apple has increasingly moved toward OpenType (.otf/.ttc) for newer system fonts, DFONT files continue to appear in macOS installations and in font collections originating from the OS X era.
Developer: Apple Computer
Initial release: 2001
CFF (Compact Font Format) is a font outline format developed by Adobe Systems around 1996 as a more efficient successor to the Type 1 font representation. CFF uses Type 2 charstrings — an optimized encoding that supports multiple arguments per operator, default value elision, and shared subroutines — to describe the same cubic Bezier glyph outlines as Type 1 but with substantially less storage. A typical CFF font is 20-50% smaller than its Type 1 equivalent. The format can function as a standalone font file or, more commonly, as the outline data table inside an OpenType font container (the CFF table in OTF files with PostScript outlines). CFF supports multiple fonts within a single file through its FontSet structure, sharing global subroutines across the collection to further reduce size. One advantage is compression efficiency without lossy degradation — every control point and hint is preserved exactly, just encoded more compactly. The format also inherits the full hinting capability of Type 1, including stem hints, counter hints, and alignment zones that ensure crisp rendering on low-resolution screens and printers. CFF2, an evolution introduced with OpenType 1.8, adds support for font variations (variable fonts) by allowing interpolation across multiple design axes. Broad support in PDF viewers, web browsers via OpenType, and professional design software makes CFF one of the most widely deployed outline formats in digital typography.
Developer: Adobe Systems
Initial release: 1996

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert DFONT to CFF?

CFF uses cubic Bezier outlines and efficient compression, resulting in smaller font data ideal for embedding in PDFs and OpenType containers across all platforms.

How do I open a CFF file?

FontForge can directly open CFF files. They are also embedded inside OTF fonts and PDFs — applications like Adobe Acrobat and Illustrator handle CFF data natively.

What advantages does CFF offer over DFONT?

CFF is platform-independent, supports advanced hinting, and produces significantly smaller file sizes — making it far more portable than the Mac-only DFONT format.

Is glyph quality maintained during conversion?

Yes. The outlines are accurately redrawn as cubic Bezier curves, preserving every detail of your original DFONT glyphs in the CFF output.

Do I need to create an account?

No registration needed. Convertio lets you convert DFONT to CFF for free directly in your browser — just upload, convert, and download.