Free online FFIL to WOFF converter

What the FFIL format is

FFIL identifies a classic Macintosh font suitcase: a resource file that can contain one or more font faces, usually bitmap fonts or Macintosh TrueType resources. Older versions of Mac OS and legacy font-management software created these files; they are often encountered after retrieving fonts from classic Mac disks, archives, or old design systems.

An FFIL file is a container rather than a modern web-font file. It may contain several sizes, styles, or faces, so conversion can produce multiple output fonts instead of one WOFF. Some files also depend on Macintosh resource-fork metadata that non-Mac software cannot read directly.

What the WOFF format is

WOFF, the Web Open Font Format, packages an OpenType or TrueType font for use on websites. A CSS rule can reference a WOFF file with @font-face, and browsers can load it without installing the font on the operating system.

WOFF normally uses compressed font data, reducing transfer size compared with an uncompressed TTF or OTF. It supports outline fonts and preserves font tables needed for glyphs, metrics, naming, and layout features. WOFF does not make a bitmap-only FFIL font into a scalable outline font.

How to actually convert FFIL to WOFF

The simplest route is the FFIL converter on 101convert.com, which can convert the file for free without installing software.

1. Open the FFIL-to-WOFF conversion page on 101convert.com.
2. Upload the .ffil file. If the file has no extension, select it by its Macintosh font-suitcase type rather than renaming an unrelated file.
3. Choose WOFF as the output format and start the conversion.
4. Download the generated WOFF file and test it in the intended browser or web project.

For local processing, install FontForge and open the suitcase with File → Open. Select the required face if the file contains several fonts, then use File → Generate Fonts, choose WOFF as the format, and save the result. FontForge can also convert an extracted TrueType or OpenType face when the FFIL container itself is not recognized.

If FontForge cannot read the file, first extract the font resource on a classic-Mac-compatible system or with a resource-fork utility, then open the extracted font in FontForge. Do not pass an FFIL suitcase directly to fontTools; its fontTools.ttLib.TTFont interface expects an individual TrueType or OpenType font, not a Macintosh resource container.

Quality and compatibility limitations

Check the generated font for missing glyphs, incorrect style names, altered metrics, and lost kerning or OpenType features. Classic bitmap-only fonts cannot be converted into authentic scalable WOFF outlines; obtain a matching vector version in TTF or OTF instead.

Use a distinct CSS family name and test all required characters. A WOFF file may contain only one face even when the FFIL suitcase held regular, bold, italic, and other variants. Font licensing also applies after conversion: changing the container does not grant permission to publish the font on a website.