1[](https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/workflows/linux-ci/badge.svg) 2[](https://circleci.com/gh/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/tree/main) 3[](https://oss-fuzz-build-logs.storage.googleapis.com/index.html) 4[](https://scan.coverity.com/projects/harfbuzz) 5[](https://www.codacy.com/gh/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/dashboard?utm_source=github.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=harfbuzz/harfbuzz&utm_campaign=Badge_Grade) 6[](https://codecov.io/gh/harfbuzz/harfbuzz) 7[](https://repology.org/project/harfbuzz/versions) 8[](https://securityscorecards.dev/viewer/?uri=github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz) 9 10 11# HarfBuzz 12 13HarfBuzz is a text shaping engine. It primarily supports [OpenType][1], but also 14[Apple Advanced Typography][2]. HarfBuzz is used in Android, Chrome, 15ChromeOS, Firefox, GNOME, GTK+, KDE, Qt, LibreOffice, OpenJDK, XeTeX, 16PlayStation, Microsoft Edge, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, 17and other places. 18 19For bug reports, mailing list, and other information please visit: 20 21 http://harfbuzz.org/ 22 23For license information, see [COPYING](COPYING). 24 25## Documentation 26 27For user manual as well as API documentation, check: https://harfbuzz.github.io 28 29## Download 30 31For tarball releases of HarfBuzz, look [here][3]. At the same place you 32will also find Win32/Win64 binary bundles that include `libharfbuzz` DLL, 33`hb-view.exe`, `hb-shape.exe`, and all dependencies. 34 35The canonical source tree is available on [github][4]. 36 37The API that comes with `hb.h` will not change incompatibly. Other, peripheral, 38headers are more likely to go through minor modifications, but again, we do our 39best to never change API in an incompatible way. We will never break the ABI. 40 41If you are not sure whether Pango or HarfBuzz is right for you, read [Pango vs 42HarfBuzz][5]. 43 44## Development 45 46For build information, see [BUILD.md](BUILD.md). 47 48For custom configurations, see [CONFIG.md](CONFIG.md). 49 50For testing and profiling, see [TESTING.md](TESTING.md). 51 52To get a better idea of where HarfBuzz stands in the text rendering stack you 53may want to read [State of Text Rendering][6], though, that document is many 54years old. Here are a few presentation slides about HarfBuzz at the 55Internationalization and Unicode Conference over the years: 56 57* November 2014, [Unicode, OpenType, and HarfBuzz: Closing the Circle][7], 58* October 2012, [HarfBuzz, The Free and Open Text Shaping Engine][8], 59* October 2009, [HarfBuzz: the Free and Open Shaping Engine][9]. 60 61Both development and user support discussion around HarfBuzz happens on the 62[github][4]. 63 64To report bugs or submit patches please use [github][4] issues and 65pull-requests. 66 67For a comparison of old vs new HarfBuzz memory consumption see [this][10]. 68 69<!--See past and upcoming [HarfBuzz Hackfests](https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/HarfBuzz/Hackfests/)!--> 70 71## Name 72 73HarfBuzz (حرفباز) is my Persian translation of “[OpenType][1]”, 74transliterated using the Latin script. It sports a second meaning, but that 75ain’t translatable. 76 77> Background: Originally there was this font format called TrueType. People and 78> companies started calling their type engines all things ending in Type: 79> FreeType, CoolType, ClearType, etc. And then came OpenType, which is the 80> successor of TrueType. So, for my OpenType implementation, I decided to stick 81> with the concept but use the Persian translation. Which is fitting given that 82> Persian is written in the Arabic script, and OpenType is an extension of 83> TrueType that adds support for complex script rendering, and HarfBuzz is an 84> implementation of OpenType complex text shaping. 85 86<details> 87 <summary>Packaging status of HarfBuzz</summary> 88 89[](https://repology.org/project/harfbuzz/versions) 90 91</details> 92 93[1]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/ 94[2]: https://developer.apple.com/fonts/TrueType-Reference-Manual/RM06/Chap6AATIntro.html 95[3]: https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/releases 96[4]: https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz 97[5]: http://mces.blogspot.com/2009/11/pango-vs-harfbuzz.html 98[6]: http://behdad.org/text/ 99[7]: https://goo.gl/FSIQuC 100[8]: https://goo.gl/2wSRu 101[9]: http://behdad.org/download/Presentations/slippy/harfbuzz_slides.pdf 102[10]: https://goo.gl/woyty 103