Type 1 is Adobe's old format. It was introduced in 1980's at the same time than the PostScript language. Type 1 fonts have Bezier curve outlines and utilize PostScript. Type 1 supports hinting.
Many people have a bunch of Type 1 fonts; me too! The same fonts are generally available as OTFs, but I can use them in Adobe's software. There exists plenty of popular software that totally ignore Type 1 fonts.
There exist a weird Type 1 expansion: Adobe Multiple Master - a font holds the information on how to with different parameter values give different versions to be used.
Adobe's Type Manager was the WinXP tool for installing Type 1 and Multiple Master fonts. Unfortunately later Windowses reject it's installation program. I have copied an installed Adobe Type Manager from my old WinXP machine. It runs ok. I have used it to Multiple Masters. The destination, where the generatd fonts are installed is not Windows\Fonts but the fonts folder in Adobe's installed software folder.
TransType and TypeTool can convert Type 1 fonts to more generally used formats.