For the most authoritative and up-to-date information on fonts
in GIMP, consult the “<span class="quote">Fonts in GIMP 2.0</span>” page
<a class="xref" href="bibliography.html#bibliography-online-gimp-fonts" title="Fonts in GIMP 2.0">[<abbr class="abbrev">GIMP-FONTS</abbr>]</a>
at the GIMP web site. This section attempts to give you a
helpful overview.
</p>
<p>
GIMP uses the FreeType 2 font engine to render fonts, and a system
called Fontconfig to manage them. GIMP will let you use any font in
Fontconfig's font path; it will also let you use any font it finds in
GIMP's font search path, which is set on the
<a class="link" href="gimp-pimping.html#gimp-prefs-folders-data" title="1.19.  Data Folders">Font Folders</a>
page of the Preferences dialog. By default, the font search path
includes a system GIMP-fonts folder (which you should not alter, even
though it is actually empty), and a <code class="filename">fonts</code>
folder inside your personal GIMP directory. You can add new folders to
the font search path if it is more convenient for you.
</p>
<p>
FreeType 2 is a very powerful and flexible system. By default, it
supports the following font file formats:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul type="disc">
<li>
<p>TrueType fonts (and collections)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Type 1 fonts</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>CID-keyed Type 1 fonts</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>CFF fonts</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>OpenType fonts (both TrueType and CFF variants)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>SFNT-based bitmap fonts</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>X11 PCF fonts</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Windows FNT fonts</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>BDF fonts (including anti-aliased ones)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>PFR fonts</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Type42 fonts (limited support)</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>
You can also add modules to support other types of font files. See
FREETYPE 2 <a class="xref" href="bibliography.html#bibliography-online-freetype" title="Freetype 2 home page">[<abbr class="abbrev">FREETYPE</abbr>]</a> for more
information.
</p>
<p><b>Linux. </b>
On a Linux system, if the Fontconfig utility is set up as usual, all
you need to do to add a new font is to place the file in the directory
<code class="filename">~/.fonts</code>.
This will make the font available not only to GIMP, but to any other
program that uses Fontconfig. If for some reason you want the font to
be available to GIMP only, you can place it in the
<code class="filename">fonts</code>
sub-directory of your personal GIMP directory, or some other location
in your font search path. Doing either will cause the font to show up
the next time you start GIMP. If you want to use it in an already
running GIMP, press the <span class="emphasis"><em>Refresh</em></span>
button in the <a class="link" href="gimp-font-dialog.html" title="3.6.  Fonts Dialog">Fonts dialog</a>.
</p>
<p><b>Windows. </b>
The easiest way to install a font is to drag the file onto the
Fonts directory and let the shell do its magic. Unless you've done
something creative, it's probably in its default location of
<code class="filename">C:\windows\fonts</code> or
<code class="filename">C:\winnt\fonts</code>. Sometimes double-clicking on
a font will install it as well as display it; sometimes it only
displays it. This method will make the font available not only to
GIMP, but also to other Windows applications.
</p>
<p>
To install a Type 1 file, you need both the
<code class="filename">.pfb</code> and <code class="filename">.pfm</code>
files. Drag the one that gets an icon into the fonts folder.
The other one doesn't strictly need to be in the same directory
when you drag the file, since it uses some kind of search
algorithm to find it if it's not, but in any case putting it in
the same directory does no harm.
</p>
<p>
In principle, GIMP can use any type of font on Windows that FreeType can
handle; however, for fonts that Windows can't handle natively, you
should install them by placing the font files in the
<code class="filename">fonts</code>
folder of your personal GIMP directory, or some other location in your
font search path. The support Windows has varies by version. All that
GIMP runs on support at least TrueType, Windows FON, and Windows FNT.
Windows 2000 and later support Type 1 and OpenType. Windows ME supports
OpenType and possibly Type 1 (but the most widely used Windows GIMP
installer does not officially support Windows ME, although it may work
