TrueType

• TrueType was created in the 1980s by Apple Computer. With most default fonts installed on Apple and Microsoft operating systems being TrueType, it is the most popular and prevalent format used today. The main feature separating the TrueType format from its predecessors was how precisely controlled the font's display was, even when scaled smaller or larger. The font format has changed since its inception, adding features like anti-aliasing and ClearType, both of which are features designed to improve the readability of TrueType fonts on higher-resolution displays.
  
  

OpenType

• OpenType was developed in 1994 by Microsoft and was originally called TrueType Open. It adds several new features to the TrueType format, the most notable being its ability to retain data for 65,000 characters in one font set. This allows it to store separate character maps for special sets within the font, such as bolded, italicized, or super/subscript type. It also allows more storage for special symbols and icons, and makes foreign language typesets easier to develop.
  
  

TrueType vs OpenType

• TrueType fonts are simpler to develop, but lack the feature set that OpenType possesses. For instance, a TrueType typeface may need a separate font set for its bold or italic version, or will need to "fake" the effect with a faux-bold or faux-italic feature in the software program (which may not scale well or be accurately transferred to a print format), whereas an OpenType font set will easily be able to store many different character maps for a single font.
  
  

The Future of Font Types

• While TrueType is the standard on most operating systems and program suites now, this will probably change in the future as more developers adopt the newer OpenType format. There are already thousands of OpenType fonts available on the Internet, and that number is growing as more font developers adopt the new format. When OpenType becomes the standard for the popular operating systems, TrueType fonts will be phased out.