A TrueType font uses a format released by Apple in 1991. Each letter, or glyph, of a TrueType font is created by combining the lines and curves determined by a series of points on a grid and described by a quadratic equation. These fonts are scalable, which means they will appear the same at any size, unlike bitmap fonts, which are defined by colored pixels and became block-like when enlarged.
A TrueType font is distinguished from other font formats by its .ttf extension. Fonts that share common glyphs may also be grouped together as a TrueType Collection with a .ttc extension. A font that has either of these file extensions will be supported by FCP.
To display a font other than a TrueType font in FCP, you must first convert the font to a graphic using a graphics editing program. Type in any font format and save the result as an image file. You may also recreate a glyph using lines and curves. Another option is to use a third party font converter to convert other formats to the TrueType format. However, the conversion may not be an exact representation of the original.
While any TrueType font will work in FCP, not all work well for video applications. Serif fonts and fonts composed of narrow lines will appear to flicker on some television screens. Small font sizes often have similar problems. For best results, use bold sans serif TrueType fonts at sizes of 25 points or greater.