Fonts

tc-lib-pdf delegates font parsing, subsetting, embedding, and generated font data to tc-lib-pdf-font.

How the Font Stack Is Split

• tc-lib-pdf: document generation, text layout, and PDF output orchestration.
• tc-lib-pdf-font: font loading, parsing, subsetting, embedding, and font data generation.

This package boundary keeps the core PDF engine focused and lets the font pipeline evolve independently.

Supported Font Types

The tc-lib ecosystem supports the major font classes expected in production PDF workflows:

• TrueType Unicode (UTF-8)
• OpenType Unicode (v1)
• TrueType
• OpenType (v1)
• Type1
• CID-0
• PDF core (standard) fonts

Embedding and Subsetting

Choose the embedding model based on delivery constraints and interoperability requirements:

• Full embedding: Best compatibility across readers and operating systems.
• Subsetting: Smaller output by embedding only the glyphs used in the document.
• Non-embedded usage (where applicable): Smaller files, but rendering depends on client-side font availability.

For public distribution, embedding with subsetting is usually the safest default.

Font Setup

When you install tc-lib-pdf as a dependency, the fonts from the companion tc-lib-pdf-font package must be generated before they can be used.

Composer does not execute scripts declared by dependencies, so add the font generation step to your consuming project:

{
  "scripts": {
    "tc-lib-pdf-fonts": [
      "[ -d vendor/tecnickcom/tc-lib-pdf-font ] && make -C vendor/tecnickcom/tc-lib-pdf-font deps fonts || true"
    ],
    "post-install-cmd": [
      "@tc-lib-pdf-fonts"
    ],
    "post-update-cmd": [
      "@tc-lib-pdf-fonts"
    ],
    "post-autoload-dump": [
      "@tc-lib-pdf-fonts"
    ]
  }
}

This covers composer install, composer update, composer require, and composer dump-autoload.

If you prefer manual generation:

make -C vendor/tecnickcom/tc-lib-pdf-font deps fonts

Generated fonts are cached under vendor/tecnickcom/tc-lib-pdf-font/target/fonts/.

Custom Font Import

For a runnable end-to-end workflow, see /examples/E072_import_new_font/.

Example commands from the project root:

mkdir -p target/fonts/source target/fonts/custom

curl -fL --retry 3 -o target/fonts/source/NotoSans-Regular.ttf \
    https://github.com/notofonts/noto-fonts/raw/main/hinted/ttf/NotoSans/NotoSans-Regular.ttf

php vendor/tecnickcom/tc-lib-pdf-font/util/convert.php \
    --outpath=target/fonts/custom \
    --type=TrueTypeUnicode \
    --flags=32 \
    --encoding_id=1 \
    --fonts=target/fonts/source/NotoSans-Regular.ttf

Then point K_PATH_FONTS to the generated directory before creating the Tcpdf instance:

\define('K_PATH_FONTS', '/opt/app/fonts/tc-lib-pdf');

For shared or immutable environments, generate fonts once into a persistent directory outside vendor/ and reuse that path across deployments.

Practical Guidance

• Use Unicode-capable fonts for multilingual and right-to-left text.
• Validate fallback behavior for missing glyphs early in development.
• Keep font licensing and provenance explicit in your build and release pipeline.
• Prefer persistent generated font directories when dependency reinstalls are common.

Installation References

Install the full PDF stack:

composer require tecnickcom/tc-lib-pdf

Install the font package directly when integrating font workflows in isolation:

composer require tecnickcom/tc-lib-pdf-font

Third-Party Fonts

PHP font metadata files under the fonts directory are covered by the project license (GNU LGPL v3). They can be regenerated with the built-in font utilities.

Original source files are renamed for compatibility and compressed with PHP gzcompress (.z extension) where applicable.

References

• tc-lib-pdf overview: /
• tc-lib-pdf API docs: /docs/srcdoc/tc-lib-pdf
• tc-lib-pdf-font project page: /projects/tc-lib-pdf-font/
• tc-lib-pdf-font API docs: /docs/srcdoc/tc-lib-pdf-font

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