View BDF files in your browser
The text format of X11's bitmap fonts, still how pixel fonts are made and shared. Open one right here, every glyph pixel by pixel. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your font opens on its glyphs pixel by pixel, every one in a grid at its own size.
- Every glyph pixel by pixel • Each size it has
- Type in it as a terminal shows it • 1× to 4×
- Find a glyph by its character, name or code
- Export • Save as TTF, OTB, BDF, PSF or a PNG sheet
About BDF
Adobe made the Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format to exchange bitmap fonts, and the X Window System took it for its own. Terminal fonts like Terminus and GNU Unifont are made in BDF, and bitmap font editors save it.
A BDF is plain text: the font's properties, then each glyph with its character, its size, where it sits and its pixels, a row of hex a line. One file holds one size.
Filepeek reads the font in your browser and shows every glyph on its pixel grid, sharp at whole steps. Type in it on a terminal's colors from 1× to 4×, and save it as TTF, OTB for Linux apps, PSF for the console, or a PNG sheet with a BMFont file for games.
Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format
.bdf
Format
- MIME type
- application/x-font-bdf
- Made by
- Adobe
Inside the file
- Glyphs
- Pixels, a row of hex a line
- Properties
- Family, size, weight and more
- Size
- One a file, in pixels
- Characters
- By code, in the font's encoding
Opens in every browser
Browsers download BDF files or show them as text, and only X11 and font editors draw them. Filepeek opens them in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, on computers and phones.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Questions
How do I open a BDF file?
Drop it on this page or choose Peek a BDF. Every glyph shows on its pixels at once.
Can I turn a BDF into a TTF?
Yes. Choose Export, then Save as TTF. Each pixel becomes a square, so the font stays sharp at its own size and whole multiples of it, in any app.
Why don't my bitmap fonts show in Linux apps?
Pango, which GNOME apps draw their text with, stopped reading BDF and PCF fonts in 2019. Save as OTB for a bitmap font they read again.
Is my file uploaded?
No. The font opens inside your browser and never leaves your device.