Font Conversion for Game Developers

Typography in games serves a fundamentally different purpose than on the web. Game text must remain readable across wildly varying screen sizes—from 4K monitors to handheld devices—while rendering efficiently enough to maintain stable frame rates. Whether you're displaying dialogue, UI elements, damage numbers, or subtitles, choosing the right font format and conversion approach directly impacts both visual quality and performance.

In 2026, modern game engines have standardized around TrueType fonts for runtime text rendering, but the actual implementation varies significantly between engines. Unity uses TextMesh Pro with SDF fonts, Unreal Engine has its own Slate font system, and Godot uses its DynamicFont resource. Understanding these differences helps you prepare fonts correctly for each platform.

This guide covers font conversion workflows for major game engines, explains when to use bitmap vs SDF fonts, and provides strategies for handling the complex requirements of multilingual game localization.

Font Formats for Game Development

Unlike web development where WOFF2 dominates, game development primarily uses TrueType (TTF) fonts. TTF files contain vector outlines that game engines can rasterize at runtime or pre-process into optimized texture atlases. Most game engines don't support web font formats like WOFF or WOFF2.

Format Compatibility by Engine

Engine	TTF	OTF	WOFF/WOFF2	Notes
Unity	Yes	Yes	No	TextMesh Pro preferred
Unreal Engine	Yes	Limited	No	TTF recommended
Godot 4.x	Yes	Yes	No	DynamicFont resource
GameMaker	Yes	Limited	No	Sprite fonts common

If you have OpenType fonts, convert them to TrueType using our OTF to TTF converter for maximum compatibility. While some engines support OTF directly, TTF ensures your fonts work across all target platforms without issues.

Signed Distance Field (SDF) Fonts

SDF fonts represent a breakthrough in game typography. Traditional bitmap fonts look blurry or pixelated when scaled, but SDF fonts remain crisp at any size because they store distance information rather than pixel colors. This technique, popularized by Valve in 2007, has become the industry standard for scalable game text.

How SDF Fonts Work

Each pixel in an SDF texture stores the distance to the nearest edge of the glyph. The shader then uses this distance to determine if a pixel is inside or outside the character, allowing smooth edges at any scale with minimal texture memory.

SDF Fonts in Unity (TextMesh Pro)

Unity's TextMesh Pro package uses SDF fonts as its foundation. To use custom fonts with TextMesh Pro, you need to generate a Font Asset from your TTF file using the Font Asset Creator window. This process creates an SDF texture atlas that TMP uses for rendering.

Import your TTF font into Unity's Assets folder
Open Window → TextMesh Pro → Font Asset Creator
Select your source font and configure atlas settings
Choose character set (ASCII, Extended ASCII, or Custom)
Generate the Font Asset and save it

SDF Fonts in Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine supports distance field fonts through its Slate UI framework. Import your TTF font and configure it as a Composite Font in the Font Editor. For SDF rendering, enable "Use Distance Field Alpha" in your font settings. Unreal automatically generates the distance field data during asset import.

Learn more about font rendering techniques in the Unity TextMesh Pro documentation and Unreal Engine font documentation.

Font Localization for Games

Game localization presents unique font challenges. A font that works perfectly for English may not support the characters needed for other languages. CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) languages require fonts with thousands of additional glyphs, significantly increasing memory requirements and load times.

Character Set Requirements by Language

Latin Languages (English, Spanish, French, German)

• ~300-500 glyphs needed
• Basic Latin + Latin Extended
• Same font usually works

Cyrillic (Russian, Ukrainian)

• ~500-700 glyphs needed
• Separate Cyrillic coverage
• May need fallback font

CJK Languages

• 5,000-20,000+ glyphs needed
• Separate fonts usually required
• Significant memory impact

Arabic, Hebrew (RTL)

• Complex shaping rules
• Right-to-left rendering
• Specialized fonts needed

Localization Strategies

Font fallback chains: Define a primary font and fallback fonts for unsupported characters
Dynamic font loading: Load language-specific fonts only when that language is selected
Font streaming: For CJK, stream glyph data as needed rather than loading all glyphs upfront
Shared fonts: Use fonts like Google Noto that support multiple scripts

For detailed character set information, see our guides on Chinese font subsetting, Japanese font subsetting, and Korean font subsetting.

Performance Optimization

Font rendering can significantly impact game performance, especially on mobile devices. Each unique font, size, and style combination may require separate draw calls. Optimizing your font usage reduces GPU overhead and improves frame rates.

Minimize Font Variations

Use 2-3 fonts maximum across your game. Each additional font increases texture memory and potentially adds draw calls. Design your UI to work with limited typographic variety—many successful games use a single font family with different sizes.

Pre-generate Font Atlases

Generate SDF font atlases at build time rather than runtime. Include only the characters your game actually uses. For dynamic content (player names), reserve a portion of the atlas for runtime glyph generation.

Batch Text Rendering

Group text elements using the same font into single batches. In Unity, use the same Material for all text with the same font. In Unreal, minimize widget complexity and use the UI batching system.

Consider Bitmap Fonts for Static Text

For text that never changes size (fixed UI elements, pixel art games), traditional bitmap fonts can be more efficient than SDF fonts. They use simpler shaders and have predictable memory usage.

Game Developer Font Conversion Workflow

Verify Game-Specific Licensing

Game fonts often require special licenses covering distribution in executables and embedding in game assets. Verify your license covers game use, which may differ from desktop or web licenses.

Convert to TTF Format

If your source font is OTF, convert it to TTF using our OTF to TTF converter. For WOFF/WOFF2 web fonts, use WOFF2 to TTF converter or WOFF to TTF converter.

Import and Configure in Engine

Import the TTF into your game engine. In Unity, generate a TextMesh Pro Font Asset. In Unreal, create a Font Face and Composite Font asset. Configure character sets based on your localization requirements.

Test Across Target Platforms

Font rendering varies between PC, console, and mobile platforms. Test your fonts on all target devices, checking readability at different screen sizes and resolutions. Pay special attention to small text on mobile devices.

External Resources

Unity TextMesh Pro Documentation - Official TMP font setup guide
Unreal Engine UMG Documentation - UMG and font handling
Godot Font Documentation - Using fonts in Godot

Written & Verified by

Sarah Mitchell

Product Designer, Font Specialist

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TL;DR - Key Takeaways