Tamil font converter

Turn text from old Tamil fonts such as Bamini, TSCII and TAM into Unicode, and back.

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How Tamil letters are built

Tamil has 12 vowels (உயிர், uyir, “life”) and 18 consonants (மெய், mei, “body”). Put a consonant and a vowel together and you get a joined letter (உயிர்மெய், uyirmei): 18 × 12 = 216 of them. Add the special letter ஃ (aytham) and that is the 247 letters children learn at school.

க்+அ=க

k + a = ka

க்+ஆ=கா

k + aa = kaa

ம்+இ=மி

m + i = mi

One consonant with every vowel: the vowel becomes a small sign around the consonant.
அaஆaaஇiஈiiஉuஊuuஎeஏEஐaiஒoஓOஔau
ககாகிகீகுகூகெகேகைகொகோகௌ

Signs for e, ee and ai (ெ ே ை) are written before the consonant, and o, oo and au wrap around it (கொ கோ கௌ), yet in Unicode text the consonant always comes first. Old fonts stored them in the order they are drawn, which is why old documents turn into a jumble when the font is missing.

How to convert old Tamil fonts to Unicode

  1. Paste the old text

    Copy the text from an old document or web page and paste it, or open a .txt file. It usually looks like English gibberish or odd symbols.

  2. Check the font

    Find it for me guesses the old font and says which one it picked. If the result looks wrong, choose Bamini, TSCII, TAB or TAM from the list.

  3. Copy the Unicode

    The Unicode Tamil on the right works in any app, phone or website. Copy it or download it as a .txt file. To go the other way, switch the direction.

Good to know

  • Text that looks like fpuhkk or jkpo; is usually Bamini. Text full of accented letters and symbols is usually TSCII, TAB or TAM.
  • When you copy from a Word file, copy the text itself, not a picture of it. The font name in the document (for example Baamini or TAB-Anna) tells you which encoding to pick.
  • Old fonts wrote the e, ee and ai signs before the consonant. The converter moves them after it, as Unicode expects, and joins கொ கோ கௌ correctly.
  • Converting to an old font gives text that only reads correctly in that font. Set the font in your document after pasting.
  • Files with old 8-bit fonts are read byte by byte, so a TSCII or TAB .txt file opens correctly. Downloads in those fonts are saved the same way.

Questions people ask

What is Bamini?

A popular old Tamil font that puts Tamil letters on the English keys, so text in it looks like English letters without the font. It was widely used for magazines, notices and websites before Unicode.

What are TSCII, TAB and TAM?

Older 8-bit standards for Tamil text. TSCII was common on websites and in e-books. TAB and TAM were set out by the TamilNet99 conference: TAB keeps English letters, TAM uses every code for Tamil.

Why is my converted text still wrong?

The guess may have picked the wrong font, so choose the font from the list. Text from some very old fonts that are not listed here will not convert correctly.

Can I convert Unicode Tamil back to Bamini?

Yes. Choose Unicode to old font, pick Bamini, paste your Tamil text and copy the result into a document that uses a Bamini font.

Is my text uploaded?

No. Everything runs in your browser on this device. Nothing you type or paste is sent to a server, and the saved draft stays in this browser only.

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