Extract text from Mac Type 1 fonts (LWFN)
To convert LWFN fonts to another format, you need FontForge or other Font software.
To convert other file formats to the "PostScript Type 1 Font" file type, you need software like FontForge or a similar tool.
The .LWFN file is an Adobe Type 1 Mac Font File containing the mathematical PostScript outline data required to print high-quality text. Developed primarily by Adobe Systems, this format was the industry standard for desktop publishing on the classic Mac OS architecture.
You must convert .LWFN files to modern formats because they are completely obsolete. Adobe permanently ended support for all PostScript Type 1 fonts across its Creative Cloud applications (like Illustrator and InDesign) in January 2023. These legacy files are notoriously difficult to manage because they do not work alone; they require a companion screen font suitcase (usually an FFIL file) to display correctly on a monitor. Furthermore, classic Mac fonts rely on obsolete 'resource forks' to store their data. If you upload a .LWFN file to standard cloud storage, email it, or move it to a Windows PC, the resource fork is instantly stripped away, corrupting the font permanently.
The best conversion targets for .LWFN are OTF (OpenType Font) or TTF (TrueType Font). Converting to OTF is highly recommended because it natively supports the cubic Bézier curves used in PostScript, preventing quality loss during translation.
Converting .LWFN files is notoriously challenging for standard web tools because of their fragmented, Mac-specific architecture. Standard online converters fail because they cannot read the proprietary resource fork data or lack the missing screen font parameters.
Convert.Guru analyzes your LWFN file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert LWFN file to TTF, OTF, WOFF, WOFF2, EOT, SVG, BDF, PCF, FNT, FON, PFM or AFM, you can use FontForge or similar software from the "Font Outline Storage" 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 LWFN, try FontForge or another comparable tool in the "Font Outline Storage" 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 LWFN converter.