Understanding The Difference Between WOFF and TTF Fonts

To understand the difference between WOFF (Web Open Font Format) and TTF (True Type Format) fonts, you need to understand both of them individually as well as their synergistic cohesiveness. These are the issues that will be discussed in this article to assist in the decision of which one of the two will be better for your purpose.

WOFF (Web Open Font Format); An Overview

WOFF (Web Open Font Format) is a web font format developed by Mozilla, TypeSupply, and LettError. This font provides a lightweight easy-to-implement compression of data that is suitable for use with CSS @font-face rules. 

WOFF can be regarded as a Container or Wrapper file for font data in already existing formats rather than an actual format in its own right. It uses a compressed version of the same table-based @font-face structure used by True Type, Open Type, and Open Font Format.  

Metadata and Private use data structures, including pre-defined fields that allow foundries and vendors to provide license information if desired, which are included in the WOFF file format. There are two versions of WOFF available. WOFF and WOFF2 are mostly different regarding the compression algorithm they respectively use. 

Benefits of Using WOFF

  1. Font data in WOFF is compressed, and that enables sites that are using WOFF to use less bandwidth and load faster than sites that will be using True Type Files or Open Type files. WOFF2 is even better regarding the compression and will give you a 30% compression gain above the original WOFF.
  2. Many font vendors are unwilling to license their TTF or OTF for use on the web, but they are willing to license WOFF format fonts. This improves the availability of fonts to site designers.
  3. The WOFF format is liked by both proprietary and free software Browser vendors. Because of this, WOFF can become a genuinely universal interoperable font format for the web. This is not likely to happen to other font formats.

How To Use Woff?

You can use the @font-face CSS property to use WOFF fonts for text in web content. It works precisely as True Type Format fonts do. The significant advantage is that it will allow for a more efficient download of your data due to compression by the WOFF algorithm. 

Overview of TFF (True Type Format)

TTF is a format developed in the 1980s. Modern TTF files can also be called True Type Open Type Format fonts. TTF can be useful in extending support to some older browsers. This is especially the case on mobile if you need it.

What is TFF (True Type Format)

A file with the .tff extension represents files based on the True Type File extension technology. True Type Fonts allow the highest quality of display on computer screens without dependency on resolution. All modern applications that are using fonts can work with TFF. The fonts are freely available on the internet and can freely be converted to other font formats like WOFF and OTF.

Conclusion

As a general rule, we can accept that you will use less bandwidth and storage using WOFF. The whole packaging of WOFF will allow you more ease of use and more efficient compression, and usage of less storage space.

You can use our free online converter to convert WOFF files into OTF or TTF

Understanding Markdown: The Top Reasons to Use It

If you’re looking for ways to easily document and create text for the net, Markdown is one of the best options for you to have. However, not all people may understand it at first. This is why you need to find resources that can help you clear up some things about this particular program and how you can use it effectively. 

If you want to understand markdown and what it does for your website and content, please don’t hesitate to continue reading. You will try to explain it to you and show you just how useful it can be down the line.

Markdown Defined

The Markdown format is also known as MD. Essentially, it is a plain text formatting string of instructions to simplify written text for the Internet. If you use MD syntax, reading documents over the web would certainly be much easier down the line. A good thing about this particular format is that it still allows for text editing to occur. You can still have modifiers such as bullets, as well as fonts and different presentation styles down the line.

Top Reasons to Use Markdown

It Is Simple To Use

The syntax itself is easy enough to use. You do not have to follow complicated instructions to use it. For example, if you want to write something in bold letters, you just enclose the word in asterisks and it will be shown as such. 

It Is Versatile

From highlighting letters to changing the font, you will also be able to create lists and bullets with the Markdown format. You wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to format in plain text if you use this syntax right away.

Converts Files Easily

You can use our online Markdown converter to convert your Markdown files to other formats like PDF, HTML, TEX etc.

Additional Points: The Syntax

The Markdown syntax is basically designed to convert complicated rich text editing tools into a plain text format for people to easily use online. As mentioned earlier, you just have to enclose the item that you want to appear on to your web page in parentheses or brackets to ensure that they would be able to appear without a hitch. Here is an example:

  • # heading
  • * Italics *
  • [link](URL)

The Summary

To wrap things up, we suggest that if you want to become the best computer programmer and coder, it would be best for you to get more familiar with the Markdown format. 

HEIF (High-Efficiency Image Format); The Future Of Images With Half The Storage

HEIF (High-Efficiency Image Format) is the still-image version of HVEC/H265 and is a visual media “container” format for storing and sharing images and image sequences. A “container,” or sometimes called a “wrapper” format, is a file format that allows multiple data streams to be embedded into a single file. It usually includes metadata used to identify and further detail the different data streams. This will ensure that you have a similar picture quality. The most significant advantage is that you will use about half of the storage space needed currently.

History of High-Efficiency Image Format (HEIF)

HEIF is based on the well-known ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF) standard. HEIF Reader/Writer Engine is an implementation of HEIF standard to demonstrate its powerful features and capabilities. HEIF was first defined in 2001 as a shared part of MP4 and JPEG 2000. It was introduced in 2015 by MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) and is defined as Part 12 within the MPEG-H media suite. It got adopted by Apple in 2017 with the introduction of iOS 11, and support on their platforms is growing.  

In general, the way people capture, store, and share images is evolving at an unprecedented rate. With HEIF, image storage and distribution are brought to the next level, and it will escalate in the future.

“Container” or more popular “Wrapper Formats.”

This file format allows multiple streams of data to be embedded into a single file. This is usually done in conjunction with metadata to identify and further detailing the data streams. Therefore, the metatags can manage the multiple data streams to display the perfect combination in one picture or a sequence of images. For this reason, HEIF is a lot better when used in a photo burst where you use a series of different images.

All programs can open the container, but they need a specific code to decode the codec. If the program doesn’t have a particular algorithm, it can’t decode the codec and emit an error message. This is presently the biggest drawback of using HEIF, the compatibility problem because most appliances and hardware used cannot decode the HEIF algorithm. HEIF files use a much more modern compression ratio than all other image formats we use nowadays, and therefore, storage will take up half of what it has taken up before.

Why Use A New Image Format?

Less Data Storage Space: As mentioned before, the container format of data storage in combination with the more modern compression ratio will reduce your storage to 50% of what is currently being used by available formats.

Color and Transparency: HEIF supports 16-bit color, whereas most other formats support only 8-bit color, which will give you much better picture quality.

Ease in Editing: HEIF file format supports numerous editing options, including rotating, cropping, titles and overlays. These images can be stored without changing the underlying image. This allows later editing, which makes it easier for developers to do changes later on.

Conclusion

HEIF will change the image of the formating world. Currently, companies like Apple can read HEIF images on most of their devices.

If your device doesn’t support HEIF then you can use our online HEIF to JPEG converter to convert files into JPEG.

HEIC 101: Understanding the Process

Have you ever heard of the term HEIC? If you have heard this word but don’t know what it means exactly, then you are in luck because we will try to explain the concept to you.

HEIC is the newest image file format that Apple products use for their pictures and image files. It is a much-improved version of JPG mainly because it reduces the file size of up to 50% without sacrificing the overall quality of the product.

It produces much crisper and clearer pictures on your Apple devices so you don’t have to worry about grainy images. You can now enjoy high definition photos and videos using this file format.

More Advantages of the HEIC Format

Aside from being able to store and have the storage capacity, this particular extension and format will be able to support short video animations as well as more file data using less space. Because of this, the colors, as well as the quality of the images, is much sharper and clearer than ever before. If you want to upload files faster, use this extension (.heic). You may ask what other data types can this particular file store?

Here they are as follows:

  • Images
  • Derivatives for editing
  • File Meta Data
  • Image Sequences (animated shorts, GIFs)

For this reason, this particular file format is highly recommended especially for those devices that may have a medium-sized storage capacity. You won’t have to worry about having to delete files just to accommodate new ones. All you have to do is to convert your JPG files and everything else will follow. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why Should We Convert JPG Files to HEIC?

We do this because of the lack of support. If your files are not converted anytime soon, you will have to delete them in bulk. However, if you can convert your files into an Apple compatible product, you would have to leave them behind as soon as possible.

Is This Easy Enough To Do?

Yes. There are many programs available include our HEIF converter that can help you convert the files easily.

Summary

Now that you know some of the major advantages of using the HEIC file format, there’s no reason for you not to get started with the conversion right away. Just be careful about choosing the right set of options when converting HEIF file because you won’t want to compromise the quality of the pictures that you’re going to use down the line.