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gasp — Grid-fitting and Scan-conversion Procedure Table

This table contains information which describes the preferred rasterization techniques for the typeface when it is rendered on grayscale-capable devices. This table also has some use for monochrome devices, which may use the table to turn off hinting at very large or small sizes, to improve performance.

At very small sizes, the best appearance on grayscale devices can usually be achieved by rendering the glyphs in grayscale without using hints. At intermediate sizes, hinting and monochrome rendering will usually produce the best appearance. At large sizes, the combination of hinting and grayscale rendering will typically produce the best appearance.

If the 'gasp' table is not present in a typeface, the rasterizer may apply default rules to decide how to render the glyphs on grayscale devices.

Two versions of the 'gasp' table have been defined: both versions use the same formats, except that two new flags were defined in version 1, as documented below. All new fonts and applications should use version 1.

'gasp' Table Formats

The 'gasp' table consists of a header followed by groupings of 'gasp' records.

'gasp' Header

Type Name Description
uint16 version Version number (0 or 1—set to 1 in new fonts)
uint16 numRanges Number of records to follow
GaspRange gaspRanges[numRanges] Sorted by ppem

The array of GaspRange records provides recommended behaviors for various ppem sizes.

GaspRange Record

Type Name Description
uint16 rangeMaxPPEM Upper limit of range, in PPEM
uint16 rangeGaspBehavior Flags describing desired rasterizer behavior.

There are four RangeGaspBehavior flags defined.

RangeGaspBehavior flags

Mask Name Description
0x0001 GASP_GRIDFIT Use gridfitting
0x0002 GASP_DOGRAY Use grayscale rendering
0x0004 GASP_SYMMETRIC_GRIDFIT Use gridfitting with ClearType symmetric smoothing
Only supported in version 1
0x0008 GASP_SYMMETRIC_SMOOTHING Use smoothing along multiple axes with ClearType®
Only supported in version 1
0xFFF0 Reserved Reserved flags — set to 0

The set of bit flags may be extended in the future. The first two bit flags operate independently of the following two bit flags. If font smoothing is enabled, then the first two bit flags are used. If ClearType is enabled, then the following two bit flags are used. The seven currently defined values of rangeGaspBehavior would have the following uses:

Flag Value Meaning
GASP_DOGRAY 0x0002 small sizes, typically ppem < 9
GASP_GRIDFIT 0x0001 medium sizes, typically 9 <= ppem <= 16
GASP_DOGRAY | GASP_GRIDFIT 0x0003 large sizes, typically ppem > 16
GASP_SYMMETRIC_GRIDFIT 0x0004 typically always enabled
GASP_SYMMETRIC_SMOOTHING 0x0008 larger screen sizes, typically ppem > 15, most commonly used with the gridfit flag.
GASP_SYMMETRIC_SMOOTHING | GASP_SYMMETRIC_GRIDFIT 0x000C larger screen sizes, typically ppem > 15
(no flags) 0x0000 optional for very large sizes, typically ppem > 2048

The records in the gaspRange[] array must be sorted in order of increasing rangeMaxPPEM value. The last record should use 0xFFFF as a sentinel value for rangeMaxPPEM and should describe the behavior desired at all sizes larger than the previous record’s upper limit. If the only entry in 'gasp' is the 0xFFFF sentinel value, the behavior described will be used for all sizes.

'gasp' Table and OpenType Font Variations

In a variable font, the threshold sizes at which rasterizer behaviors are changed may need to be adjusted for different variation instances. Variation data for adjusting the rangeMaxPPEM value of up to ten GaspRange records can be provided in the metrics variations (MVAR) table, referenced using value tags 'gsp0' to 'gsp9'. Note that the rasterizer behavior for a given GaspRange record cannot be changed for different variation instances; only the rangeMaxPPEM value can be adjusted.

The last GaspRange record in a 'gasp' table is assumed to have a rangeMaxPPEM value of 0xFFFF (effectively infinity). The rangeMaxPPEM value of the last record is never adjusted for different instances; the number of value records in the MVAR table that are associated with 'gasp' entries must never be more than numRanges minus one.

For general information on OpenType Font Variations, see the chapter, OpenType Font Variations Overview.

Sample 'gasp' table

Field Value Font smoothing meaning ClearType with symmetric smoothing meaning
version 0x0001
numRanges 0x0004
gaspRanges[0]
rangeMaxPPEM 0x0008 ppem <= 8 ppem <= 8
rangeGaspBehavior 0x000A grayscale only symmetric ClearType only
gaspRanges[1]
rangeMaxPPEM 0x0010 9 <= ppem <= 16 9 <= ppem <= 16
rangeGaspBehavior 0x0005 gridfit only symmetric gridfit only
gaspRanges[2]
rangeMaxPPEM 0x0013 17 <= ppem <= 19 17 <= ppem <= 19
rangeGaspBehavior 0x0007 gridfit and grayscale symmetric gridfit
gaspRanges[3]
rangeMaxPPEM 0xFFFF 20 <= ppem 20 <= ppem
rangeGaspBehavior 0x000F gridfit and grayscale symmetric gridfit and symmetric smoothing