Extract text from TrueType font resources (FOT)
To convert FOT font resources to another format, you need Microsoft Windows or other Font software.
To convert other file formats to the "TrueType Font Resource File" file type, you need software like Microsoft Windows or a similar tool.
A .FOT file is a legacy TrueType font resource file primarily used by older versions of Microsoft Windows. Instead of storing the actual typographic glyphs, a .FOT file acts as a shortcut or pointer to an external TrueType Font (TTF) file located elsewhere on the system. These files were historically handled by the Windows font installer and can occasionally be inspected using open-source typography software like FontForge.
The core disadvantage of the .FOT format is that it is fundamentally obsolete and functionally useless on its own. Internally, it utilizes a proprietary EXE executable file structure. Because it only contains metadata and file path pointers rather than actual scalable vector outlines, modern operating systems and web browsers completely ignore it. You cannot install a .FOT file on modern Windows or macOS without its accompanying TTF file.
Users typically want to convert .FOT files into standard, deployable font formats like TTF, OTF, or WOFF. However, this file format is difficult to open or convert. Because it is a closed, proprietary pointer, standard online converters fail to process it - they look for vector outlines that simply do not exist in the file payload.
Just drag and drop your file to convert.guru to see what it is and convert it if supported. Even if direct conversion is impossible due to missing external glyphs, convert.guru can still identify the file format, inspect the binary file structure, and show underlying text or metadata. If our analysis detects any embedded or cached font data, viewing or extraction may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your FOT file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted ROY files.
If you want to convert FOT file to TTF, OTF, WOFF, WOFF2, EOT, SVG, BDF, PCF, FNT, FON, PFM or AFM, you can use Microsoft Windows or similar software from the "Font Resource Linking" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert UFO, WOFF, PFB, GXF, AFM, F3F, SFD, WOFF2, PSF, TTF, TXF or OTF files to FOT, try Microsoft Windows or another comparable tool in the "Font Resource Linking" category.
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 FOT converter.