Kantipur to Unicode ConverterBeta

About the Kantipur to Unicode Converter

This page turns Kantipur text back into Nepali Unicode. Kantipur is a legacy 8-bit Nepali font used by newspapers, government offices and older desktop-publishing workflows, the same world as Preeti, but a different encoding. A document typed in Kantipur looks like broken English on any computer without the font installed. Unicode is the encoding the web and modern software use, so converting back means the text can be searched, copied into email, posted online, or opened in Google Docs without any special font.

The converter sits the right way round for this job. Kantipur goes in the left pane and Unicode comes out on the right, as you type. Both panes stay editable and in sync, so you can fix a word on either side and the other side follows. The engine reads Kantipur keystrokes syllable by syllable, so the i-matra, the reph and half-form conjuncts all land in the right place. Every sample converts to Kantipur and back to the exact Unicode it started from, through automated round-trip checks.

Copy the result and paste it anywhere. Unicode Nepali shows with any normal font, so the reader needs nothing installed. For the other direction, use the Unicode to Kantipur converter. For Preeti documents, use thePreeti to Unicode converter, which uses the Preeti mapping. Kantipur and Preeti share most letters but disagree on a handful of bytes, so the wrong converter silently mistranslates those.

Worked examples: Kantipur in, Unicode out

The converter at the top of this page produced these examples. Each one was also converted back, and every one came back as the exact Kantipur text it started from.

The third row is the one to test with. It has a conjunct (काठमाडौं) and a chandrabindu, so a character-by-character converter would scramble it. The syllable-level engine here reorders the i-matra, the reph and the conjuncts into Unicode logical order as you type.

Which legacy font is my document?

A Kantipur document and a Preeti document look the same at first glance. Both show as broken English when their font is missing, and most of their letters are identical. The only bytes that differ are F, X, ‹, › and Î, plus a few bytes each font has that the other lacks. A short passage may not contain any of them, so a short passage may not tell you which font it is.

The test is simple. Paste the text into this converter and into the Preeti to Unicode converter, then compare the two readings. Two bytes settle it fast. The byte sF gives का in Kantipur and कँ in Preeti. The byte X gives हृ in Kantipur and ह् (half ha) in Preeti. Whichever reading makes sense is the right font. If the passage has no F, X, ‹, › or Î in it, either converter gives the same result, so it does not matter which one you use.

The font name in the document settles it too, when you can see it. Open the file in Word and look at the font box with the text selected. A font set to Kantipur means Kantipur text. A font set to Preeti means Preeti text. When the font name is missing or the file is plain text, the sF and X test above is the way to tell.

Where Kantipur and Preeti differ

These are the bytes where the two fonts disagree. Everything not listed here is identical between Kantipur and Preeti, which is why a Preeti converter fed Kantipur text (or vice versa) silently mistranslates exactly these bytes. This is the same table as on the Unicode to Kantipur converter page.

Beta caveat: % , = , ; , : , ° and the nukta ़ have no glyph in the Kantipur font. So they pass through unchanged and render as other glyphs (= as a dot, % as ५, ; as स, : as स्). Check those symbols by hand.

What it cannot do

This page converts text, not files. It takes pasted text and plain .txt uploads, and it gives back text. It cannot open a .docx or PDF file, so a Word document has to be opened first and its text copied out. It cannot read a photo or a scan, so a printed page has to be typed out first.

The Beta symbols need care in this direction too. A % in Kantipur text has no Unicode meaning of its own, so it comes back as ५. The sentence १००% छुट, stored in Kantipur as !))% 5'6, reads back here as १००५ छुट. The percent sign turned into a digit. The same holds for =, ;, : and °, plus the nukta. Check those marks by hand before trusting a whole document, and fix them in the document itself.

English words and digits inside Kantipur text also need care. The converter treats every letter as a Kantipur keystroke, so English words get mapped to Nepali letters. Convert only the Nepali parts of a mixed document. Leave English words, names written in English, email addresses and Western digits out, then add them back after the conversion.

Frequently asked questions

How to convert Kantipur to Unicode?

Paste your Kantipur text into the left pane of the converter above. The Nepali Unicode appears instantly in the right pane as you type. Click "Copy result" and paste the Unicode text anywhere: Gmail, Facebook, WhatsApp, Google Docs or a modern editor. No Kantipur font needs to be installed to read the result.

How do I know my document is Kantipur and not Preeti?

Most bytes are the same in both fonts, so a short passage may not tell you. The bytes that differ are F, X, ‹, › and Î. Paste a word with one of those bytes into both converters and compare. Kantipur sF gives का while Preeti sF gives कँ, and Kantipur X gives हृ while Preeti X gives ह्. If the Kantipur reading makes sense and the Preeti reading does not, the document is Kantipur.

Why is this converter labelled Beta?

The Kantipur encoding is complete for Nepali text. But a few symbols have no glyph in the Kantipur font at all: the percent sign %, equals sign =, semicolon ;, colon : and degree sign °, plus the nukta ़. Those characters pass through unchanged in the Unicode to Kantipur direction, and they come back wrong in this direction. A % in Kantipur text turns into ५ here, so १००% छुट reads as १००५ छुट. Check those symbols by hand before trusting a whole document. Everything else converts exactly.

Does it handle conjuncts, reph and i-matra?

Yes. The engine reads Kantipur keystrokes syllable by syllable, so the i-matra, the reph and half-form conjuncts all land in the right place. Every sample on this page converts to Kantipur and back to the exact Unicode it started from, through the same automated round-trip checks as the Unicode to Kantipur direction.

Can I convert a .docx or PDF file?

No. This page converts text you paste or upload as a .txt file. It cannot open .docx or PDF files, and it cannot read text from a photo or scan. For a Word file, copy the Kantipur text out of the document and paste it here. For a scanned page, type the text out first.

Why did my English words turn into Nepali letters?

The converter treats every letter as a Kantipur keystroke, so English words get mapped to Nepali letters too. Convert only the Nepali parts of a mixed document. Leave English words, names written in English, email addresses and Western digits out, and add them back after.

Is my text sent to a server?

No. Conversion happens entirely in your browser and nothing you type is uploaded, stored or logged. The page even keeps working offline once it has loaded, and the source code is open for anyone to inspect.

What is the difference from the converter on the Unicode to Kantipur page?

That page runs Unicode to Kantipur by default, with Kantipur to Unicode as its hidden reverse: you paste Kantipur into the right pane. This page puts Kantipur first, so the panes sit in the direction people actually use for old documents. The engine is the same in both places, and the byte table below is the same table.