FreeType 2.7 Released With A Big Font Rendering Change

FreeType 2.7 has been officially released and it's actually a big deal as it aims to bring font rendering that's better in line with what's offered by DirectWrite and ClearType on other operating systems.

Back in July I wrote about the upcoming change for FreeType 2.7. If you missed it see FreeType 2.7 Bringing DirectWrite/ClearType-Like Rendering -- Much Better Looking Fonts On Linux. The main change is a new default mode for subpixel hinting. This new subpixel hinting mode is also different from some patches previously used by Linux distributions for said support. The new subpixel hinting code should be much faster than the older patches.

FreeType 2.7 also has improvements to its smooth rasterizer to make it about 20% faster, fixed for handling of raw CID fonts, fuzzer fixes, and various bug fixes and other improvements.

More details on the big 2.7 release via FreeType.org.