What is font subsetting and its benefit?

What is font subsetting and its benefit?

• A. Embedding only the glyphs used in a document to reduce file size while preserving font data
• B. Embedding the entire font to ensure compatibility
• C. Replacing fonts with default system fonts
• D. Excluding fonts to save space

Answer: (A)

Font subsetting means embedding only the glyphs that actually appear in the document, not the entire font file. This reduces the file size while keeping all the typography you see intact for the characters that are used. The embedded subset still includes the essential font data—metrics, hinting, and kerning—so spacing and rendering remain consistent across different viewers and devices. This approach is especially useful for PDFs and web fonts, where smaller files load faster and use less bandwidth, yet the text looks exactly as intended. The other options don’t fit because embedding the full font increases size, replacing with system fonts would change the document’s appearance, and excluding fonts would result in missing characters.

Font subsetting means embedding only the glyphs that actually appear in the document, not the entire font file. This reduces the file size while keeping all the typography you see intact for the characters that are used. The embedded subset still includes the essential font data—metrics, hinting, and kerning—so spacing and rendering remain consistent across different viewers and devices. This approach is especially useful for PDFs and web fonts, where smaller files load faster and use less bandwidth, yet the text looks exactly as intended. The other options don’t fit because embedding the full font increases size, replacing with system fonts would change the document’s appearance, and excluding fonts would result in missing characters.