html - Will a browser download a font-face even if it is not used in the page?

Question

It would be easier for development if I can just embed every typeface I'm likely to use, but I definitely don't want the extra HTTP requests for fonts that don't end up anywhere in the page. Can anyone enlighten me?

Answer 1

IE will download the .eot file immediately when it encounters the @font-face declaration.

Gecko, Webkit, and Opera all wait until they encounter HTML that matches a CSS rule with a fontstack including the @font-face font.

-- http://paulirish.com/2009/fighting-the-font-face-fout/

So were it not for IE, it actually would be safe to embed lots of fonts, as long as you're careful not to refer to unused ones in your CSS styles, because at that point they will be downloaded by the browser.