A bitmap font is one that stores each glyph as an array of pixels (that is, a bitmap). It is less commonly known as a raster font. Bitmap fonts look best at their native pixel size. At non-native sizes, many text rendering systems perform nearest-neighbor resampling, introducing ugly jagged edges. More advanced systems perform anti-aliasing on bitmap fonts whose size does not match the size that the application requests. This technique works well for making the font smaller but not as well for increasing the size, as it tends to blur the edges. Read the rest of this entry »

Bitmap and pixel fonts are fonts that are designed especially for the screen. Each part of each character corresponds to one of the monitor’s pixels. Because of the way they are designed, even at smaller sizes and at varying screen resolutions, they are clear and legible. Read the rest of this entry »