On the Role of Font Formats in Building Efficient Web Applications

TL;DR

This paper examines how different web font formats affect client-side resource consumption and performance, providing experimental insights and practical recommendations for optimizing web application efficiency.

Contribution

It offers a comparative analysis of four common font formats (OTF, TTF, WOFF, WOFF2) and their impact on web performance, filling a gap in empirical font format evaluation.

Findings

WOFF2 generally offers the best performance except in memory usage

Significant differences exist between all font format pairs across metrics

Practical guidelines for font format selection are provided

Abstract

The success of a web application is closely linked to its performance, which positively impacts user satisfaction and contributes to energy-saving efforts. Among the various optimization techniques, one specific subject focuses on improving the utilization of web fonts. This study investigates the impact of different font formats on client-side resource consumption, such as CPU, memory, load time, and energy. In a controlled experiment, we evaluate performance metrics using the four font formats: OTF, TTF, WOFF, and WOFF2. The results of the study show that there are significant differences between all pair-wise format comparisons regarding all performance metrics. Overall, WOFF2 performs best, except in terms of memory allocation. Through the study and examination of literature, this research contributes (1) an overview of methodologies to enhance web performance through font utilization, (2) a specific exploration of the four prevalent font formats in an experimental setup, and (3) practical recommendations for scientific professionals and practitioners.