Sinhala Unicode Converter

What this Sinhala Unicode converter does

This tool changes text stored with older Sinhala font encodings into standard Unicode characters. The visible words may look Sinhala when the correct legacy font is installed, but the underlying characters can still be Latin or symbol code points. Unicode fixes that portability problem.

Use the converter when old Sinhala text breaks after copy and paste, appears as English letters on another computer, or depends on a specific FM, DL, Kaputa, Amalee or Thibus font. The output can be copied into modern browsers, email, social media, office documents and Unicode-aware publishing systems.

How to convert old Sinhala font text to Unicode

Choose the legacy font that originally produced the text. Paste the source text into the input box. LankaTextTools processes the conversion and updates the Unicode output immediately. Copy the result and check a few names, conjuncts and punctuation marks before replacing an important source document.

• Select the correct legacy font before judging the output.
• Keep a copy of the original text until you finish checking the conversion.
• Use FM Abhaya mode for text typed with FM Abhaya or closely matching FM layouts.
• Use the dedicated FM Abhaya page when you want focused guidance for that encoding.

Unicode text versus a Sinhala font

Unicode and fonts solve different problems. Unicode assigns standard character values to Sinhala letters. A font controls how those characters look on screen or paper. Changing a Unicode font normally changes appearance without changing the underlying Sinhala text.

Older legacy fonts often reused Latin character positions to draw Sinhala glyphs. That is why legacy text may become unreadable when the expected font is missing. Conversion maps those legacy sequences to real Sinhala Unicode characters instead of merely changing the typeface.

When conversion needs extra checking

Legacy documents can contain mixed fonts, manual spacing, non-standard character sequences and text copied through PDF software. No converter can reliably infer every damaged source. If one paragraph converts correctly and another does not, confirm whether both sections used the same original font.

Complex conjuncts, zero-width joiner sequences, unusual punctuation and text that has already passed through another converter deserve a visual check. LankaTextTools keeps the source and output side by side so you can compare before using the result.

How to tell whether Sinhala text is already Unicode

Unicode Sinhala normally remains readable when you change between modern Sinhala fonts. It can also be searched, copied into a browser and pasted into another Unicode-aware app without depending on one legacy font file. Legacy text often turns into Latin letters, punctuation or unrelated symbols when its original font is removed.

A quick visual test is useful, but it is not perfect. Some applications preserve the legacy font while copying, which can make old text look portable when it is not. If you inherited a document, check its font name and test a short sample in the converter before processing the entire file.

Practical workflows for Word, web and publishing

For Microsoft Word or similar editors, keep an untouched copy of the original file, convert one section at a time and paste the Unicode result into a new document. Apply a modern Unicode Sinhala font only after the underlying characters have been converted. For websites, paste Unicode into the content system and verify headings, links and search results on both desktop and mobile.

Design and publishing software can add another layer because some older templates were built around legacy keyboard mappings. If a production template still expects a legacy font, preserve the Unicode master text separately and create a compatibility export only for that final workflow.