font/ttf TrueType Font Common

What it's for

font/ttf identifies TrueType font files — an older, originally desktop/print-oriented font format developed by Apple and Microsoft in the late 1980s, and still extremely widely supported across operating systems and design software. On the web specifically, TTF has largely been superseded by WOFF2 for actual font delivery (WOFF2 achieves meaningfully better compression for the exact same underlying font outlines), but TTF remains highly relevant as the source format many fonts are originally distributed in, before being converted to WOFF/WOFF2 for web use.

Format & syntax

Content-Type: font/ttf

Referenced in CSS via @font-face, typically as a fallback alongside more modern formats:

@font-face {
  font-family: "MyFont";
  src: url("myfont.woff2") format("woff2"),
       url("myfont.ttf") format("truetype");
}

No parameters. TTF and the related OTF (OpenType) format use similar underlying outline technology, with meaningful but often-invisible-in-practice technical differences in how glyph outlines are described internally.

How it's used in practice

• Original font distribution format — many fonts are originally released and licensed as TTF (or OTF) files, which then get converted to WOFF2 (and sometimes WOFF) specifically for web delivery via font-conversion tooling, since TTF itself isn't the space-efficient choice for actual web serving.
• Desktop and design software font installation — TTF remains a standard format for installing fonts locally on desktop operating systems and using them in design/publishing software, entirely separate from any web delivery context.
• Legacy browser fallback in @font-face declarations — some web font setups still include a TTF fallback alongside WOFF2/WOFF specifically for very old browser compatibility, though this matters much less than it once did given how broad WOFF2 support has become.
• Font subsetting and conversion pipeline source files — font optimization workflows (subsetting to only needed characters, converting to WOFF2) typically start from an original TTF or OTF source file as the input to that conversion process.

Common mistakes & gotchas

• Serving TTF directly for web delivery instead of WOFF2 — TTF files are significantly larger than WOFF2 for the same underlying font, since WOFF2 applies compression specifically optimized for web font delivery — serving TTF directly to browsers wastes bandwidth compared to converting to WOFF2 first.
• Confusing TTF with the newer, generally preferred OTF format for certain typographic features — OTF (OpenType) supports some advanced typographic features (like more sophisticated ligatures and stylistic variants) that classic TTF doesn't handle as robustly, though for most basic web typography use cases the practical difference for the delivered web font is minimal since both usually get converted to WOFF2 anyway.
• Font licensing restrictions being overlooked when converting/redistributing — many commercial fonts have licensing terms specifically restricting or governing web use/conversion/redistribution — converting a TTF to WOFF2 for web serving needs to respect the font's actual license terms, not just be technically possible.
• Assuming TTF fallbacks are still necessary in modern @font-face setups — given how broad WOFF2 browser support has become, including a TTF fallback is increasingly unnecessary for projects targeting only modern browsers, adding file weight to your font declarations for browsers accessing your site.

Comparison & FAQ

Should I serve TTF fonts directly on my website?

No — convert to WOFF2 first for web delivery, since it achieves significantly better compression for the same underlying font data. TTF is more relevant as a source/original format than a web-delivery format.

What's the difference between TTF and OTF?

Both are desktop font formats using similar outline technology, but OTF (OpenType) supports some more advanced typographic features (certain ligatures, stylistic variants) that classic TTF handles less robustly — for typical web use, both are usually converted to WOFF2 anyway, minimizing the practical difference.

Do I still need a TTF fallback in my @font-face declaration?

Given how broad WOFF2 support has become among modern browsers, it's increasingly unnecessary unless you specifically need to support very old browser versions — check your actual target browser support requirements before including it.

Can I freely convert any TTF font to WOFF2 for my website?

Only if the font's license permits web use and format conversion — many commercial fonts have specific licensing terms governing this, so check the font's actual license before converting and redistributing it.