macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install freetypelocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install freetypeMacPorts ports tree · print/freetype/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew
Install freetype with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix
Software library to render fonts. Version 2.14.3 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add freetypeAlpine Linux edge package indexes · freetype · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install freetype2-demosDebian stable package indexes · freetype2-demos · source: deb.debian.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install freetypeFedora Rawhide package metadata · freetype · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#freetypenixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/fr/freetype/package.nix · source: api.github.com
overview
Package summary
Software library to render fonts
Project links
Commands and aliases
- freetype-config
history
Project history and usage
FreeType is a portable C library for rendering fonts, especially vector and bitmap font formats. It is a foundational graphics dependency: users rarely invoke it directly, but desktop stacks, browsers, games, document renderers, and toolkits depend on the library to turn fonts into glyph images.
Project history
The official history says David Turner created FreeType in 1996 to render TrueType fonts, including a TrueType bytecode interpreter. Robert Wilhelm ported it to C in 1997, Werner Lemberg joined the team, and the Pascal version ended development in 2000.
FreeType 2.0 was released in 2000 after beta releases as a complete modular rewrite. It added support for multiple font formats, including PostScript fonts, improved gray-level rendering, and glyph image and metrics caching.
The project later narrowed its scope around 2004 to creating rasterized glyph images, leaving text shaping and layout to higher-level libraries such as ICU and HarfBuzz. In 2009 the repository moved from CVS to git, and Werner Lemberg became the sole maintainer with outside contributions.
Adoption history
FreeType 1 influenced OS/2 and TeX tooling through FreeType/2 and ttf2pk, according to the official history. FreeType 2's narrower rendering focus made it a durable low-level dependency rather than a complete text-layout engine.
Its adoption is visible through its role as a tiny, efficient, portable renderer used by other software rather than as an end-user program. The README emphasizes portability, customization, and high-quality output across most vector and bitmap font formats.
How it is used
Developers use FreeType through its C API to load font faces, inspect glyph metrics, rasterize glyph images, and integrate font rendering into larger graphics or document pipelines. The official documentation includes glyph conventions, a tutorial, API reference, design notes, and hinting documentation.
Packaged FreeType usually exposes headers, libraries, freetype-config for legacy build integration, and documentation. It does not have a normal user config file or credential store.
Why package nerds care
FreeType is one of the archetypal invisible dependencies; upgrading it can affect font rendering across a whole system. Package maintainers care about ABI stability, optional rendering features, patent-era historical choices around hinting, and coordination with HarfBuzz and graphics stacks.
Its history also explains an important Unix packaging boundary: FreeType renders glyphs, while shaping and layout live elsewhere. That division is why FreeType and HarfBuzz so often travel together in dependency graphs.
Timeline
- 1996: David Turner created FreeType to render TrueType fonts.
- 1997: Robert Wilhelm ported FreeType to C and Werner Lemberg joined the team.
- 2000: FreeType 2.0 released as a modular rewrite; Pascal version development stopped.
- 2004: Project scope narrowed to rasterized glyph images, leaving shaping and layout to libraries above FreeType.
- 2009: Source repository migrated from CVS to git; Werner Lemberg became the only maintainer.
- 2026: FreeType 2.14.3 README identifies the current project as a small, efficient, customizable, portable C font rendering library.
Related projects
- HarfBuzz is the shaping library explicitly referenced by the official history as a better layer above FreeType for text shaping.
- ICU is also named by the official history as a higher-level library for text layout concerns.
- ttf2pk and FreeType/2 are historical FreeType 1 related projects highlighted by the official history.
Sources
- https://freetype.org/freetype2/docs/documentation.html
- https://freetype.org/history.html
- https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/freetype/freetype
- https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/freetype/freetype/-/raw/master/README
- https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/freetype/freetype/-/tags/VER-2-0
- https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/freetype/freetype/-/tags/VER-2-14-3
security posture
Risk level: green
library-like package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- library-like package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:library-like
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
- Installs with 1 runtime dependencies.
- Build metadata lists 1 build dependencies.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
freetype-config | cli | global executable |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-07-08
manager version2.14.3
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
- infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
- infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://www.freetype.org/none confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:freetype |
|---|---|
| Version | 2.14.3 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/freetype |
| Homepage | https://www.freetype.org/ |
| Repository | https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/freetype/freetype |
| Upstream docs | https://freetype.org/freetype2/docs/documentation.html |
| License | FTL |
| Source archive | https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/freetype/freetype2/2.14.3/freetype-2.14.3.tar.xz |
| Dependencies | libpng |
| Build dependencies | pkgconf |
| Uses from macOS | bzip2 |
| Bottle | available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux) |
| Homebrew post-install | not defined |
| Service | none declared |
registry facts
Source database details
| Source Database | Homebrew formula API |
|---|---|
| Tap | homebrew/core |
| Full Name | freetype |
| Aliases |
|
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 0 |
| Bottle Stable Root URL | https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core |
| Deprecated | no |
| Disabled | no |
| Keg Only | no |
| URL Keys |
|
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
Debian apt95%
freetype2-demos 2.13.3+dfsg-1+deb13u1
FreeType 2 demonstration programs
sudo apt install freetype2-demos- Section: utils
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: freetype
- 4 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
Debian apt95%
freetype2-doc 2.13.3+dfsg-1+deb13u1
FreeType 2 font engine, development documentation
sudo apt install freetype2-doc- Section: doc
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: freetype
- 2 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
Debian apt95%
libfreetype-dev 2.13.3+dfsg-1+deb13u1
FreeType 2 font engine, development files
sudo apt install libfreetype-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: freetype
- 8 dependencies
- 1 provides
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
Debian apt95%
libfreetype6 2.13.3+dfsg-1+deb13u1
FreeType 2 font engine, shared library files
sudo apt install libfreetype6- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: freetype
- 5 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
Nix95%
freetype
nix profile install nixpkgs#freetype- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
Ubuntu apt95%
freetype2-demos 2.13.2+dfsg-1build3
FreeType 2 demonstration programs
sudo apt install freetype2-demos- Section: universe/utils
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: freetype
- 4 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
Ubuntu apt95%
freetype2-doc 2.13.2+dfsg-1build3
FreeType 2 font engine, development documentation
sudo apt install freetype2-doc- Section: doc
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: freetype
- 2 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
Ubuntu apt95%
libfreetype-dev 2.13.2+dfsg-1build3
FreeType 2 font engine, development files
sudo apt install libfreetype-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: freetype
- 8 dependencies
- 1 provides
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
Ubuntu apt95%
libfreetype6 2.13.2+dfsg-1build3
FreeType 2 font engine, shared library files
sudo apt install libfreetype6- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: freetype
- 5 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
apk95%
freetype 2.14.3-r0
TrueType font rendering library
sudo apk add freetype- License: FTL OR GPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: freetype
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
apk95%
freetype-demos 2.14.3-r0
A collection of FreeType demos
sudo apk add freetype-demos- License: FTL OR GPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: freetype
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
apk95%
freetype-dev 2.14.3-r0
TrueType font rendering library (development files)
sudo apk add freetype-dev- License: FTL OR GPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: freetype
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
apk95%
freetype-doc 2.14.3-r0
TrueType font rendering library (documentation)
sudo apk add freetype-doc- License: FTL OR GPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: freetype
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
apk95%
freetype-static 2.14.3-r0
TrueType font rendering library (static library)
sudo apk add freetype-static- License: FTL OR GPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: freetype
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
dnf95%
freetype 2.14.3-1.fc45
A free and portable font rendering engine
sudo dnf install freetype- License: (FTL OR GPL-2.0-or-later) AND BSD-3-Clause AND MIT AND MIT-Modern-Variant AND LicenseRef-Fedora-Public-Domain AND Zlib
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: freetype
- 8 dependencies
- 4 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
dnf95%
freetype-demos 2.14.3-1.fc45
A collection of FreeType demos
sudo dnf install freetype-demos- License: (FTL OR GPL-2.0-or-later) AND BSD-3-Clause AND MIT AND MIT-Modern-Variant AND LicenseRef-Fedora-Public-Domain AND Zlib
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: freetype
- 7 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Freetype
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- Nucleus package database
- av.db category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- package relationship graph
- package version freshness
- package-page enrichment