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Last active August 9, 2025 23:51
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generate pixelated version of any font
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make-pixelated-font.md

How to make pixelated version of a font

Pre-reqs

You will need:

  • A vector font file (TTF, OTF, whatever -- as long as FontForge supports it)
  • FontForge
  • BitsNPicas (which requires Java)

Steps

  1. Open your TTF (or whatever) in FontForge.
  2. Go to Element->Bitmap Strikes Available.
  3. In the 'Pixel Sizes' field, type the desired pixel size for your font (e.g. 19), then click OK
  4. Go File->Generate Fonts.
  5. We need a BDF file, so select "No Outline Font" on the left, and "BDF" on the right. The number below "BDF" should be the pixel size you specified earlier.
  6. Close FontForge (no need to save).
  7. Run java -jar BitsNPicas.jar convertbitmap -f ttf -o SOMENAME.ttf SOMENAME.bdf
  8. SOMENAME.ttf is now your pixelated font file. TTF isn't the only format BitsNPicas supports, but the other formats are mostly weird ones (no WOFF or OTF).
  9. I'm sure there's an easy way to generate WOFFs from TTFs locally, but I am lazy so cloudconvert.com does the trick.
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