BdfFont - Python

A library for handling Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF) Fonts.

Installation

pip install bdffont

Usage

Create

import shutil
import statistics

from bdffont import BdfFont, BdfGlyph
from examples import build_dir


def main():
    outputs_dir = build_dir.joinpath('create')
    if outputs_dir.exists():
        shutil.rmtree(outputs_dir)
    outputs_dir.mkdir(parents=True)

    font = BdfFont(
        point_size=16,
        resolution=(75, 75),
        bounding_box=(16, 16, 0, -2),
    )

    font.glyphs.append(BdfGlyph(
        name='.notdef',
        encoding=-1,
        scalable_width=(500, 0),
        device_width=(8, 0),
        bounding_box=(8, 16, 0, -2),
        bitmap=[
            [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1],
            [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
        ],
    ))

    font.glyphs.append(BdfGlyph(
        name='CAP_LETTER_A',
        encoding=65,
        scalable_width=(500, 0),
        device_width=(8, 0),
        bounding_box=(8, 16, 0, -2),
        bitmap=[
            [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
            [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
            [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
            [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
            [0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0],
            [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0],
            [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0],
            [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0],
            [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0],
            [0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
            [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0],
            [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0],
            [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0],
            [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0],
            [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
            [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
        ],
    ))

    font.properties.foundry = 'Pixel Font Studio'
    font.properties.family_name = 'My Font'
    font.properties.weight_name = 'Medium'
    font.properties.slant = 'R'
    font.properties.setwidth_name = 'Normal'
    font.properties.add_style_name = 'Sans Serif'
    font.properties.pixel_size = font.point_size
    font.properties.point_size = font.point_size * 10
    font.properties.resolution_x = font.resolution_x
    font.properties.resolution_y = font.resolution_y
    font.properties.spacing = 'P'
    font.properties.average_width = round(statistics.fmean(glyph.device_width_x * 10 for glyph in font.glyphs))
    font.properties.charset_registry = 'ISO10646'
    font.properties.charset_encoding = '1'
    font.generate_name_as_xlfd()

    font.properties.default_char = -1
    font.properties.font_ascent = 14
    font.properties.font_descent = 2
    font.properties.x_height = 7
    font.properties.cap_height = 10
    font.properties.underline_position = -2
    font.properties.underline_thickness = 1

    font.properties.font_version = '1.0.0'
    font.properties.copyright = 'Copyright (c) TakWolf'

    font.save(outputs_dir.joinpath('my-font.bdf'))


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Load

import shutil

from bdffont import BdfFont
from examples import assets_dir, build_dir


def main():
    outputs_dir = build_dir.joinpath('load')
    if outputs_dir.exists():
        shutil.rmtree(outputs_dir)
    outputs_dir.mkdir(parents=True)

    font = BdfFont.load(assets_dir.joinpath('unifont', 'unifont-17.0.05.bdf'))
    print(f'name: {font.name}')
    print(f'size: {font.point_size}')
    print(f'ascent: {font.properties.font_ascent}')
    print(f'descent: {font.properties.font_descent}')
    print()
    for glyph in font.glyphs:
        print(f'char: {chr(glyph.encoding)} ({glyph.encoding:04X})')
        print(f'glyph_name: {glyph.name}')
        print(f'advance_width: {glyph.device_width_x}')
        print(f'dimensions: {glyph.dimensions}')
        print(f'offset: {glyph.offset}')
        for bitmap_row in glyph.bitmap:
            text = ''.join('  ' if pixel == 0 else '██' for pixel in bitmap_row)
            print(f'{text}*')
        print()
    font.save(outputs_dir.joinpath('unifont-17.0.05.bdf'))


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

References

License

MIT License

Download files

Download the file for your platform. If you're not sure which to choose, learn more about installing packages.

Source Distribution

bdffont-0.0.41.tar.gz (9.7 kB view details)

Uploaded Jul 27, 2026 Source

Built Distribution

If you're not sure about the file name format, learn more about wheel file names.

The dropdown lists show the available interpreters, ABIs, and platforms. Enable javascript to be able to filter the list of wheel files.

bdffont-0.0.41-py3-none-any.whl (12.2 kB view details)

Uploaded Jul 27, 2026 Python 3

File details

Details for the file bdffont-0.0.41.tar.gz.

File metadata

Download URL: bdffont-0.0.41.tar.gz
Upload date: Jul 27, 2026
Size: 9.7 kB
Tags: Source
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? Yes
Uploaded via: uv/0.11.32 {"installer":{"name":"uv","version":"0.11.32","subcommand":["publish"]},"python":null,"implementation":{"name":null,"version":null},"distro":{"name":"Ubuntu","version":"24.04","id":"noble","libc":null},"system":{"name":null,"release":null},"cpu":null,"openssl_version":null,"setuptools_version":null,"rustc_version":null,"ci":true}

File hashes

Hashes for bdffont-0.0.41.tar.gz
Algorithm	Hash digest
SHA256	`1f815e5c405a32f814800a1b226816cf556d0c9f707df146e0a5b7ba91561977`
MD5	`c900a4739937944d6072d7703ee28484`
BLAKE2b-256	`05554829452dcd0111b93e8f8c64189b4851f5498e96d93a8ccd06390e79e328`

See more details on using hashes here.

File details

Details for the file bdffont-0.0.41-py3-none-any.whl.

File metadata

Download URL: bdffont-0.0.41-py3-none-any.whl
Upload date: Jul 27, 2026
Size: 12.2 kB
Tags: Python 3
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? Yes
Uploaded via: uv/0.11.32 {"installer":{"name":"uv","version":"0.11.32","subcommand":["publish"]},"python":null,"implementation":{"name":null,"version":null},"distro":{"name":"Ubuntu","version":"24.04","id":"noble","libc":null},"system":{"name":null,"release":null},"cpu":null,"openssl_version":null,"setuptools_version":null,"rustc_version":null,"ci":true}

File hashes

Hashes for bdffont-0.0.41-py3-none-any.whl
Algorithm	Hash digest
SHA256	`b9291f34967dc94c42847617b6af741fc0516398f97ba8c2825de26f0725efb9`
MD5	`866d89585e150223bb5ad0c55139d3c6`
BLAKE2b-256	`40c6c43eaa6cece78bad88099926f6bd7ca86c0768cf86c08a80b854f0f72d95`