A system (10) for proportionately spacing a plurality of characters is disclosed. The system includes a memory for storing a character font defining a group of characters which may be individually selected. Each selectable character contains at least one matrix of pixels with each matrix containing a plurality of rows of pixels with each row having pixels extending in a direction of reading of the pixels from the memory. Visible pixels in the at least one matrix of each selectable character define a visible shape which is stored in the memory as a first binary value. Background pixels in the at least one matrix of each selectable character, which are a remainder of a total number of pixels in the at least one matrix of each selectable character, are stored in the memory as a second binary value. A central processing unit (12) controls reading from the memory each of the rows of pixels from the at least one matrix of each of a plurality of characters in a sequence of pixel groups with each pixel group containing a fixed number of pixels. The central processing unit produce processed pixel groups containing the proportionately spaced plurality of characters by processing individual pixels within the sequence of pixel groups of the plurality of characters from the selected row. Each processed pixel group contains the fixed number of pixels including visible pixels from at least one character of the plurality of characters.