What Is Birdfont?

Updated

Birdfont is a free font editor for creating vector graphics and exporting TTF, OTF, and SVG fonts. It supports both monochrome and color font formats, runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and BSD, and is developed by Johan Mattsson. If you want to draw glyphs from scratch, edit existing outlines, or produce a working font file without paying for software, Birdfont is built for that task.

What you can do with it

  • Draw and edit vector outlines — the editor is designed around glyph creation rather than page layout.
  • Export real font formats — TTF, OTF, and SVG.
  • Work in color as well as monochrome — the site states good support for both color and monochrome font formats.
  • Handle advanced glyph behavior — the site points to an advanced example using variable glyph properties, and release notes mention ligature generation, emoji support, anchor glyphs, and spacing classes.

Platforms and install options

Installers and source code packages are available for:

Platform Availability
Windows Installer / source
Linux Installer / source
Mac OS X Installer / source
BSD Installer / source

Downloads are hosted on the Birdfont site itself.

How it is built

Birdfont is written in Vala and contains around 124,000 lines of code. Knowing this matters mainly if you plan to build from source, report a bug with technical detail, or contribute. Development is led by Johan Mattsson.

Recent versions show what is actively changing

The release notes give a practical picture of where the tool is being improved:

  • 6.15 — control point position shown in the toolbox when the point tool is selected; dark canvas theme.
  • 6.14 — faster spacing classes; ESC aborts a move in the point and move tools; anchor glyphs can point to other anchor glyphs.
  • 6.13 — new color selector (color wheel) and bug fixes.
  • 6.12 — updates to ligature generation.
  • 6.11 — improved emoji support, a new ligature tab, speed optimizations.
  • 6.10 — better drawing tools, stroke completion in close path, searching and viewing Unicode blocks in the overview tab, grid applied to anchor marks, SVG parser updates.
  • 6.9 — UI updates, visual indication for glyphs added to the font, glyph info in tooltips, a button to hide batch transformations (resize, auto-bold, etc.), control points hidden outside the current layer.
  • 6.8 — bug fixes and new key bindings.
  • 6.7 — import features (entry truncated in the source).

If you depend on a specific feature such as ligatures or emoji, check the version you download against these notes.

Cost and support model

Birdfont is described as a free font editor. The project also accepts donations and offers a subscription option for people who want to support development with a small recurring amount. Donation income is stated to go toward bug fixes and new features. The site lists recent donations and a monthly funding goal, so the free download and the optional support payments are separate things.

Where to get help or report problems

When Birdfont is a good fit — and when it may not be

Choose Birdfont if you need a no-cost editor that exports standard font formats, you work on Windows, Linux, Mac, or BSD, and you want color font or emoji-related support in an actively maintained tool.

Look elsewhere if you need a full type-design ecosystem with extensive hinting and production tooling, or if you require commercial support with guarantees — the site presents a community and donation-based project, not a vendor support contract.