Free online FFIL to WOFF2 converter

What the FFIL format is

.ffil identifies a classic Macintosh font suitcase: a container that can hold one or more related font resources, commonly bitmap fonts and, in some cases, outline data. These files were created by classic Mac OS font systems and older Macintosh font-management software; they may appear in archives copied from System 6, System 7, Mac OS 8, or Mac OS 9 rather than in current font folders.

An FFIL file is not normally a complete modern OpenType font. Its resource-fork structure can also be lost when copied through file systems that preserve only the data fork, so a damaged or renamed file may not be convertible.

What the WOFF2 format is

WOFF2 is a Brotli-compressed web-font container for TrueType or OpenType outlines. Browsers load it through CSS such as @font-face, and web servers normally send it with the font/woff2 MIME type.

WOFF2 is smaller than an equivalent TTF or OTF and is the preferred web format in current browsers. It does not improve bitmap fonts: an FFIL containing only classic bitmap resources must first be recreated as an outline font, and the resulting glyph shapes may not match the original pixel designs at every size.

How to actually convert FFIL to WOFF2

First preserve the original file and its Mac metadata. Work from a copy made on macOS or from an archive that preserves resource forks. Do not simply rename font.ffil to font.ttf; changing the extension does not convert the internal format.

1. Open the FFIL in a desktop font utility that understands classic Macintosh resources, such as FontForge. Use File → Open and select the suitcase. If FontForge cannot read it, use Fondu to extract any Macintosh font resources, then open the extracted TTF or SFD file in FontForge.
2. Inspect the glyph set, encoding, family name, style, metrics, and copyright information. If the suitcase contains only bitmap strikes, create or obtain an outline version instead; there is no lossless bitmap-to-vector conversion.
3. Save an intermediate outline font as font.ttf or font.otf. In FontForge, use File → Generate Fonts, select TrueType or OpenType, and enable validation if available.
4. Generate WOFF2 from the valid outline font with Google’s WOFF2 utility: woff2_compress font.ttf. The command creates font.woff2. Alternatively, install FontTools with Brotli support using python -m pip install fonttools brotli, then run fonttools ttLib.woff2 compress font.ttf.
5. Test font.woff2 in a browser with an @font-face rule and check accented characters, punctuation, spacing, bold or italic variants, and rendering at the intended sizes.

For a no-install conversion, 101convert.com can convert the file online for free. Uploading may fail if the FFIL depends on a missing resource fork or contains bitmap-only data; in that case, extract or recreate the font locally first.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

The conversion is direct only when the FFIL contains usable outline data. Classic bitmap-only suitcases require redrawing or locating a matching outline font, and automatic tracing can introduce incorrect curves, spacing, hinting, and licensing problems.

Keep the original family and style metadata consistent across converted files. Use a separate WOFF2 for each weight and style rather than synthesizing bold or italic in CSS. Validate the output with a font checker before deployment, and confirm that the font license permits web embedding; converting the container does not change licensing rights.