Sinhala Font Converter

One converter for several legacy Sinhala fonts

Older Sinhala documents were created with more than one non-Unicode font system. A mapping that works for FM Abhaya can produce incorrect text when the source is DL-Manel, Kaputa, Amalee or Thibus. This page keeps the font choice explicit so you can apply the matching converter.

The output is Unicode Sinhala. After conversion, you can choose any suitable Unicode Sinhala font in the destination application without changing the underlying characters.

Choose the source font, not the destination font

The important setting is the font/encoding used to create the old text. If you are unsure, inspect the original document properties or ask the person who created it. Testing one short known sentence can also help identify whether a mapping is plausible.

Why multi-font conversion can fail on mixed documents

A Word or desktop-publishing file can contain several fonts in one paragraph. Copying the entire document into one converter may therefore produce a mixture of correct and incorrect characters. Convert sections separately when the source font changes.

PDF extraction adds another layer because the copied character codes may not match the original document encoding. Always compare high-value conversions with the visible source.

Supported source formats and what they mean

The converter provides separate mappings for FM Abhaya, DL-Manel, Kaputa, Amalee and Thibus. These names identify legacy text workflows, not just visual font styles. Selecting a source tells the tool which ordered character substitutions to apply before producing Sinhala Unicode.

If you choose the wrong mapping, the converter can still return Sinhala-looking output while some letters are wrong. That is why the source selector is a functional setting rather than a cosmetic font menu.

Move old text into a Unicode-first workflow

Once a section has been converted and checked, keep the Unicode version as the master. You can then change between Unicode Sinhala fonts without re-running the legacy converter. This reduces dependence on old font files and makes the content easier to use across operating systems, browsers and mobile devices.

If a legacy publishing system still needs the old format, create that legacy copy from the reviewed Unicode master only for the final compatibility step.

Troubleshooting incorrect characters

First confirm the source font. Next, test a shorter sample copied directly from the editable document instead of from a PDF. Check whether the source contains smart quotes, manual glyph substitutions or text imported from another application. Those clues often explain why only part of a paragraph converts correctly.

When reporting a mapping problem, include a minimal non-sensitive source sample and the expected Unicode characters. Small reproducible examples are more useful than screenshots of an entire document.