# Font files

Meterian supports scanning **font files** to collect metadata useful for inventory, attribution, and compliance analysis.

The font scanner extracts metadata that is explicitly declared in the font files and does not attempt to infer usage rights beyond the available information.

The font scanner enables:

* Detection of font files in projects
* Collection of font name and version information
* Extraction of explicit license and copyright attribution
* Support for both modern and legacy font formats

Please note that additonal external tools are required for this functionality, so the use of the [**dockerized client**](/dedicated-instance/using-the-scanners/dockerized-client.md), which includes them, is recommended. (otherwise, please consult the section ["External tools"](#external-tools-thin-client) to use the thin client)

***

### Enabling the Font Scanner

Font scanning is disabled by default.

To enable font collection, use the following option:

```
meterian --collect-fonts
```

It is generally recommended to enable only the font scanner when performing this analysis:

```
-meterian --collect-fonts-enabled-scanners=fonts
```

This limits the scan to font files only. Please note that the scanning is quite comples, it may require a sensible amount of time. 

***

### Supported Font Types

The following font formats are supported:

* `aaf`
* `afm`
* `bdf`
* `cff`
* `eot`
* `fon`
* `otb`
* `otc`
* `pcf`
* `pfb`
* `pfm`
* `ttc`
* `ttf`
* `otf`
* `woff`
* `woff2`

Both modern and legacy font formats are supported.

***

### Collected Data

For each supported font file, the scanner attempts to collect the following information:

| Field         | Description                                |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| **Name**      | Font family name or full font name         |
| **Version**   | Font version string                        |
| **License**   | License text or license URL, if present    |
| **Copyright** | Copyright notice or attribution if present |

License information is collected only when it is explicitly embedded in the font metadata or associated structures.

***

### Format Handling Notes

#### OpenType and TrueType Fonts

(`ttf`, `otf`, `ttc`, `otc`)

Metadata is extracted from standard OpenType tables, providing the most complete results.

#### WOFF and WOFF2

(`woff`, `woff2`)

Fonts are decompressed before metadata extraction and then processed as OpenType fonts.

#### Embedded OpenType

(`eot`)

* Header metadata (such as name and version) is always collected.
* When possible, the embedded font data is extracted to collect additional metadata.
* Some EOT files use proprietary compression and may expose limited information.

#### Legacy Font Formats

(`bdf`, `pcf`, `fon`, `pfb`, `pfm`, `afm`, `aaf`)

Metadata availability depends on the format and embedded information. In some cases, only partial metadata can be collected.

***

### External Tools (Thin Client)

When using the [**thin client**,](/the-client/client.md) the following external tools are required for full font scanning support:

* `exiftool`
* `woff2_decompress`
* `eot2ttf`

These tools must be available in the execution environment. You can for example install them on a Linux box using a similar set of commands:

```
apt add exiftool
apt add woff2
apt add build-base autoconf automake libtool
git clone https://github.com/umanwizard/libeot.git \
 && cd libeot \
 && autoreconf -i \
 && ./configure \
 && make && make install \
 && cd .. && rm -r libeot
```

When using the [**dockerized client**](/dedicated-instance/using-the-scanners/dockerized-client.md), all required tools are already included.

***

### Limitations

* License and copyright data are collected only when explicitly present.
* Some font formats expose limited metadata.
* Proprietary compression schemes may prevent full metadata extraction.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.meterian.io/font-files.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.