What Is Webfont?
A webfont is a font file delivered over the internet so a web page can display a specific typeface even if the visitor does not have it installed. The modern format is WOFF2, which is compressed for fast loading. Webfonts are loaded in CSS with the `@font-face` rule.
Before webfonts, sites were limited to a handful of "web-safe" fonts installed on most computers. The `@font-face` rule and the WOFF/WOFF2 formats freed designers to use almost any typeface online.
Performance matters: subsetting (shipping only needed characters), `font-display: swap`, and WOFF2 compression keep webfonts from delaying the text a reader is waiting for.