How to opentype name table: platforms, encodings, languages
- Step 1Read platformID — 0 = Unicode (rare), 1 = Macintosh, 2 = ISO (deprecated), 3 = Windows. Browsers consistently read platformID=3.
- Step 2Read encodingID for Windows — Windows platform: 0 = Symbol, 1 = Unicode BMP (most common), 10 = Unicode full repertoire. Browsers read encodingID=1.
- Step 3Read languageID — Windows: 0x409 = English (US), 0x809 = English (UK), 0x40C = French (France), etc. Browsers read 0x409.
Frequently asked questions
Why do fonts ship Mac platform records?+
Historical compatibility. macOS pre-2010 read Mac platform records preferentially. Modern macOS reads Windows records too. Mac platformID=1 entries are now redundant for browser delivery.
Does macOS Font Book need Mac records?+
No — Font Book reads platformID=3 records since macOS 10.6 (Snow Leopard, 2009). Mac platform records are pure legacy bloat in any font shipped today.
What about non-English browsers?+
Browsers always read English (0x409) records by spec, regardless of system locale. The name strings shown to the user (e.g., in font picker UIs) come from this single canonical source.
Privacy first
Every JAD Font tool runs entirely in your browser using opentype.js and the wawoff2 WASM Brotli encoder. Your fonts never leave your device — verified by zero outbound network requests during processing.