Font Metadata Checker
Read a font file's real internals: name table, version, designer, licence, glyph count, metrics, embedding rights and character coverage.
Convert with this tool
or choose a file from your device — it is processed in this tab and never uploaded
Accepted: TTF, OTF, WOFF (full inspection), WOFF2 (header inspection only)
Files stay on your device. There is no upload, no queue and no watermark, so a conversion works even with the network switched off after the page has loaded.
Supported formats & processing
| Accepted input | TTF, OTF, WOFF (full inspection), WOFF2 (header inspection only) |
|---|---|
| Produced output | A metadata report, with a JSON download of everything found |
| Processing | Web Audio API + canvas + native JavaScript encoders |
| Upload required | No — the file is read locally and never transmitted |
How to use this tool
- Add the font fileThe tables are read as soon as the file is selected.
- Read the summary gridContainer, format, outlines, glyph count and units per em are the key rows.
- Check the name tableFamily, full name, version, designer, licence and licence URL are all listed.
- Check the embedding rightsThis is the legal field — read it before redistributing anything.
- Download the JSON reportEverything parsed is exported so you can diff two fonts.
About this tool
Every font carries a name table that records far more than the family name: the designer, the version, the foundry, a description, a licence URL and the embedding permissions. It also carries a head table with the units per em, a maxp table with the glyph count, an OS/2 table with weight and width classes, and a cmap table that maps character codes to glyphs.
This checker parses all of it directly from the file's binary structure — no lookup service, no guesswork — and reports it in a readable grid. It also flags the embedding rights, which is the field that tells you whether a font may legally be embedded in a document or served as a web font.
Features
- Full SFNT table directory with every table named
- Complete name table across Windows, Unicode and Macintosh platforms
- Glyph count, units per em, ascender and descender metrics
- Weight and width classes from the OS/2 table
- Embedding rights decoded into plain language
- Character coverage from the cmap table with the active subtable reported
Frequently asked questions
What do the embedding rights mean?
Installable means the font may be embedded freely. Editable embedding allows embedding in documents that can be edited. Preview and print allows embedding for viewing only. Restricted means the font must not be embedded at all. These are legal flags set by the foundry, not technical limits.
Why is my glyph count higher than the number of characters I can type?
A font includes glyphs for ligatures, alternate forms, accents, small capitals and sometimes decorative variants, all addressed by OpenType feature tables rather than by a character code. The cmap coverage figure is the one that tells you how many characters are directly typable.
Why does the checker show so little for my WOFF2 file?
WOFF2 payloads are Brotli-compressed with a table transform, and browsers cannot expand them. Only the uncompressed header fields are readable. Convert the file to WOFF or TTF on the desktop to inspect it fully.
What is units per em?
The coordinate grid a font's outlines are drawn on — commonly 1000 for PostScript-flavoured fonts and 2048 for TrueType ones. It defines the resolution of the design, not the size it renders at.