You normally want to use a encoded font compliant with the Unicode Standard. It will likely be able to work with other encoding, but a font designed for another encoding may not be able to work with Unicode.
Unicode – Complies with Unicode encoding and is ideal for Web viewing. If you need to type with this font, you would have to install a separate keyboard utility.
Encoded (Not Unicode) – Complies with a specific encoding scheme. These should only be used to work with and hopefully convert older documents to Unicode by
fontvilla.
Print Font (Avoid) – Encoded as ASCII/Latin 1, but with special characters replacing English letters. If you DON’T need to activate a keyboard utility, it is likely not a Unicode font. Many newer icon fonts and dingbat fonts are actually this kind of font and can be problematic on the web.
Note: These fonts were originally designed for print. There was no need for the text to be readable across platforms.