t1asm

t1asm infile outfile
t1asm

t1asm is a utility designed to convert human-readable, ASCII-encoded PostScript Type 1 font programs (often with a .pfa extension) into their compact, binary representation (typically with a .pfb extension). Type 1 fonts were a standard for digital typography, particularly important in PostScript environments and desktop publishing workflows. This command takes the textual PostScript instructions defining a font's glyphs and metrics and compiles them into a more efficient, machine-readable binary format. The output is suitable for embedding in documents or for use by PostScript interpreters and print drivers. It serves as a crucial step in the Type 1 font development and deployment workflow, allowing font designers to work with a more accessible source format before converting it for distribution and use.

• Exclusively handles the PostScript Type 1 font format; not compatible with TrueType, OpenType, or other modern font formats.
• It is an assembler, not a font editor; it expects a syntactically correct PostScript Type 1 font program as input.
• Primarily converts ASCII to binary; it does not perform font optimization, subsetting, or advanced validation beyond basic parsing.
• Part of an older font technology stack; less frequently used directly in modern web or desktop environments which primarily favor OpenType fonts.

t1asm reads PostScript Type 1 Font ASCII (PFA) files and outputs PostScript Type 1 Font Binary (PFB) files. PFA files are human-readable text files containing PostScript code, while PFB files are a more compact binary representation, often used for embedding fonts in documents or sending them directly to printers. If no input file is specified, it reads from standard input. If no output file is specified, it writes to standard output.

t1asm is a component of the suite of utilities for handling PostScript Type 1 fonts, which gained prominence in the 1980s and 1990s as a key technology for high-quality printing and digital publishing, particularly with Adobe PostScript and desktop publishing applications. It has long been included in distributions of Ghostscript and TeX Live, reflecting its role in preparing fonts for rendering and printing within these ecosystems. While Type 1 fonts have largely been superseded by OpenType for general use, tools like t1asm remain relevant for legacy systems, archiving, and specific font development workflows that still involve the Type 1 format.

pfb2pfa(1), t1disasm(1), fontforge(1), gs(1)