Kannada ASCII ↔ Unicode Converter
Turn Nudi/Baraha text that shows up as PÀ£ÀßqÀ into readable Unicode ಕನ್ನಡ — or convert Unicode back to ASCII.
ಆಸ್ಕಿ ಮತ್ತು ಯುನಿಕೋಡ್ ನಡುವಿನ ಲಿಪಿ ಸೇತುವೆ – the script bridge between Kannada ASCII and Unicode.
Your text is converted inside your browser. It is never sent to any server, and this site uses no analytics or tracking.
How to convert Kannada text
- Choose the direction: ASCII → Unicode for old Nudi/Baraha documents, or Unicode → ASCII to use text in Nudi/Baraha fonts.
- Paste your text into the left box (the top box on phones).
- The result appears as you type. For very long text, press Convert (or Ctrl+Enter).
- Press Copy result and paste it where you need it.
Kannada Unicode to ASCII converter
Some print and DTP workflows still use Nudi or Baraha fonts, which expect ASCII-encoded text. Select Unicode → ASCII, paste Unicode Kannada, then paste the result into a document set in a Nudi/Baraha font. Without that font, the ASCII result looks like random Latin characters; that is expected.
Supported Kannada text formats
Supported
- Unicode Kannada (U+0C80–U+0CFF), including ZWJ/ZWNJ forms such as ರ್ಯ and ಕ್ರ್
- Nudi/Baraha ASCII encoding — the encoding this engine was built and tested for
- Kannada and English numerals, spaces, line breaks and punctuation
Not supported
- Other legacy font encodings (for example Shree-Lipi or other proprietary DTP fonts) — they map characters differently and will give wrong output
- Scanned images or PDFs where the text is not selectable
- Transliteration (typing Kannada with English letters, like “kannada”)
“Kannada ASCII” is not one universal standard. If the output looks wrong, the source text was probably typed in a different font encoding.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kannada ASCII text?
Before Unicode was widely supported, Kannada was typed with fonts such as Nudi and Baraha that draw Kannada letters in place of Latin characters. The file stores Latin characters, so without the font the text appears as something like PÀ£ÀßqÀ.
What is Kannada Unicode?
Unicode gives every Kannada letter its own code, so the text displays correctly on any modern phone or computer, can be searched, and works on websites and social media without special fonts.
Does this converter support Nudi and Baraha?
Yes. The engine converts the Nudi/Baraha ASCII encoding to Unicode and back. Other legacy font encodings are not supported yet. If a result shows Kannada letters mixed with Latin letters, the text was probably typed in a different font, and Lipisetu will warn you.
How do I keep English words unchanged?
In ASCII text, English letters are also Kannada characters, so the converter cannot tell them apart. Put a dollar sign on each side of the word, with no spaces inside: $Google$. The dollar signs are removed in the output.
What do “Keep English numbers” and “Remove extra spaces” do?
Keep English numbers leaves 0–9 as they are when converting ASCII to Unicode; otherwise they become Kannada numerals ೦–೯. It has no effect in Unicode → ASCII, where numerals are always written as 0–9 because the font draws them. Remove extra spaces turns runs of spaces and tabs into a single space and trims the start and end of the text.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs in JavaScript inside your browser, and your text is never sent anywhere. The site uses no analytics or tracking; the only outside file it loads is the Font Awesome icon stylesheet.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes. It works in current mobile and desktop browsers. On phones the input and output boxes are stacked.
Is it free?
Yes. It is free to use and open source under the MIT licence.