BFN Converter

Extract text from Nintendo font files (BFN)

Select File
Drop or upload your .BFN file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your BFN file

Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your BFN file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert BFN to another file type

To convert BFN fonts to another format, you need BrawlCrate or other Font software.

Convert a file to BFN

To convert other file formats to the "Game Asset" file type, you need software like BrawlCrate or a similar tool.

About BFN files

The .bfn extension is primarily associated with Nintendo GameCube and Wii proprietary font files (J3D Font). Unlike standard TTF or OTF fonts, a BFN file is a binary container holding rasterized glyphs (texture sheets), character mapping tables, and width metrics. You cannot simply install this file in Windows or macOS; it is designed exclusively for the J3D game engine to render text in titles like Super Mario Galaxy or The Legend of Zelda.

A secondary but critical use of .bfn is in aviation, specifically for FlarmNet collision avoidance systems. In this context, the file is a binary database containing aircraft IDs, callsigns, and pilot names, which glider pilots load onto devices like LXNav or Butterfly displays via SD card.

Common Conversion Needs:

For Gamers/Modders: Convert BFN to PNG to extract the font textures for editing, or to XML to tweak character width/spacing metrics using tools like BrawlCrate.
For Pilots: While usually loaded directly onto hardware, users occasionally seek to convert the binary database to CSV or TXT to verify the aircraft list contents.

Convert.Guru analyzes your BFN file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted FONT, CHR and FSF files.

FAQ

If you want to convert BFN file to , you can use BrawlCrate or similar software from the "Nintendo Game Font" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert files to BFN, try BrawlCrate or another comparable tool in the "Nintendo Game Font" category.

The BFN Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our BFN converter.