# Converting fonts from Mac to Windows
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-fonts-from-mac-to-windows/418515
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 9, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-fonts-from-mac-to-windows/418515 "2007-09-09T02:19:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-fonts-from-mac-to-windows/418515/1 "2007-09-09T02:19:29Z")
For reasons not worth going into, I have a set of typefaces in Mac format that I need to convert to something useable by the Windows XP version of MS Word (I guess that would be into a .TTF file). The only utilities I could find to do this cost 30 or 40 dollars, which I don’t want to spend for this single task. What can I do to perform this conversion using free software? I have access to a Mac and a Windows environment, so the utility could run on either.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2007, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-fonts-from-mac-to-windows/418515/2 "2007-09-09T04:51:22Z")
Your Mac-format fonts: old-world (MacOS 9, 8, 7…) fonts, or modern (OS X) fonts?
An old piece of freeware called TTConverter will convert a TrueType font from the MacOS 9 (and earlier) era to a Windows-style “.ttf” font.
If your font is _already_ a “.ttf” font, it doesn’t need converting. (MacOS X can use that style of font, so that’s possible).
If your font is one of the new-style “.dfont” font files, the only way I’ve figured out how to do it is in two stages: use freeware dfontifier to convert the .dfont file to a MacOS 9 style font; then use TTConverter to convert that onwards to a Windows-style “.ttf” font.
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### Author:  [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2007, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-fonts-from-mac-to-windows/418515/3 "2007-09-09T07:29:39Z")
I’m not sure exactly what type it is–I assume OS X. “Get Info” on the filename shows “Postscript Type 1 outline font”.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-fonts-from-mac-to-windows/418515/4 "2007-09-09T15:52:11Z")
Ouch. Postscript font. Dunno beans about converting a PS font for Windows use.
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### Author:  [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-fonts-from-mac-to-windows/418515/5 "2007-09-10T16:48:03Z")
My research indicates it’s easier to convert a TrueType font to Type 1 than vice versa–and the quality of conversions either way is not always perfect.
So in order to use this Mac Adobe Type 1 font on my resume, I switched to the free NeoOffice (Mac version of OpenOffice) rather than use MS Word. It opened the word document with no trouble,. NeoOffice seems like a very nicely done application, with the Aqua look and feel; I may stop using MS Word at home altogether.