EMediaLive.com: ISO To Adopt OpenType File Format as Font Standard For MPEG-4

Adobe Systems Incorporated has announced that the International Standards Organization (ISO) has accepted, for review, Adobe and Microsoft's proposal to use the OpenType font file format as the basis of a new open font format for handling text and graphics, within the MPEG-4 standard.

Developed jointly by Adobe and Microsoft, OpenType is a cross-platform font file format, which provides rich multilingual support and advanced typographic control. Adobe has converted the entire Adobe Type Library into this format and today offers thousands of OpenType fonts. Use of OpenType fonts is supported in current Microsoft Windows and Apple MacOS operating systems, allowing users to choose from among thousands of fonts provided by dozens of digital font foundries. "

At its last meeting in Poznan, Poland at the end of July, MPEG approved formal standardization of OpenType. With the help of Adobe and Microsoft, the first version of OpenType specification text will be submitted to the ISO approval process by MPEG in September. MPEG will then use the specification as the starting point for the ISO standard "Open Font Format."

Other companies will be able to reference and use the OpenType specification, at no cost, to implement an Open Font Format solution. Interested parties will also be able to submit proposals for enhancements and clarifications to the Open Font Format specification through standard ISO processes.