Add your ARB file
Drop one or more .arb files onto the converter above, or browse for them. They load into browser memory only — nothing is uploaded, so there is no size-based pricing and no server queue.
ARB to PO
Converting a .arb font to .po repackages the same glyphs and metrics for a different delivery target. Free, private, and validated — the file never leaves your browser.
Private for supported formats — processed in your browser
Runs on your deviceConvert supported files
Drop ARB files here
Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.
Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.About converting Application Resource Bundle to GNU gettext translation
Converting a .arb font to .po repackages the same glyphs and metrics for a different delivery target. An .arb file is an Application Resource Bundle: a JSON object in which each key maps to a translatable string, and keys prefixed with @ carry that string's metadata — its description, its placeholder types and their formatting. It is the localisation format Flutter's intl tooling generates from and compiles to typed Dart accessors.
A .po file is a GNU gettext Portable Object: a plain-text translation catalog in which each entry pairs a msgid — the original string, which doubles as its own key — with a msgstr holding the translation. It is the format most open-source software is translated in, and it is designed to be readable and diffable in a normal editor. For this route the practical draw is human-readable and diff-friendly, unlike every XML alternative and untranslated entries degrade to the English source instead of showing a raw key — balanced against keying on source text means an English typo fix invalidates every translation of that string, which is worth knowing before you commit a large batch.
Why convert ARB to PO?
The practical trigger for this conversion is usually a mismatch: with .arb, the @-key convention doubles the entry count and looks odd to anyone new to it. Switching to .po buys you human-readable and diff-friendly, unlike every XML alternative, which is why it is the better fit for translating open-source software, where gettext is effectively the default. Because the conversion runs locally, trying it costs nothing but a few seconds of compute on your own machine.
ARB vs PO at a glance
| Aspect | Application Resource Bundle (.arb) | GNU gettext translation (.po) |
|---|---|---|
| Format type | Text-based — characters and structure, so there is no visual quality loss | Text-based — characters and structure, so there is no visual quality loss |
| How it stores data | the document is a single JSON object; ordinary keys map to strings, and @-prefixed keys map to metadata objects for the key of the same name | entries are blank-line-separated blocks of msgid and msgstr, each a sequence of C-style quoted strings that concatenate across lines |
| Strongest at | localising a Flutter application through gen_l10n | translating open-source software, where gettext is effectively the default |
| Weak spot | the @-key convention doubles the entry count and looks odd to anyone new to it | keying on source text means an English typo fix invalidates every translation of that string |
| Metadata | keys and their translated values are preserved. @-prefixed metadata — descriptions, placeholder types and formats — and the @@locale marker are skipped rather than converted, because flat key-value targets have nowhere to put them | identifiers, source strings, translations and context are preserved. Header fields, translator comments, source references and flags such as fuzzy are not carried into formats that have nowhere to put them — converting a reviewed catalog to a mobile resource file loses the review state, not the translations |
Pick PO as the output
Select .po in the output menu next to each file. The menu only offers targets this engine can genuinely produce, so if PO is selectable, the route is real and validated.
Convert on your device
Press Convert. The font tables are parsed and rewritten locally with fonteditor-core; glyph outlines, hinting, and kerning survive the trip.
Verify and download
Each result is signature-checked before the download unlocks, so a failed encode can never masquerade as a valid PO file. Outputs keep the original filename with the .po extension.
ARB to PO questions, answered
Will converting ARB to PO lose quality?
There is no visual quality to lose — arb is text-oriented and po is text-oriented, so the question is structural fidelity. Text, ordering, and basic structure are preserved; complex layout, embedded objects, and styling beyond the target's model are simplified.
Is it private to convert ARB files here?
Yes — the .arb file is processed inside your browser tab and never uploaded. The font tables are parsed and rewritten locally with fonteditor-core; glyph outlines, hinting, and kerning survive the trip. Close the tab and the file is gone from memory.
Where will the PO file work?
Gettext runtimes exist for essentially every language, and desktop editors (Poedit, Lokalize, Gtranslator) plus every major translation platform read .po directly. Novus Convert parses the catalog locally, keys entries on msgctxt where present and on msgid otherwise, and converts between it and the other nine localization formats without uploading strings that may not be public yet.
Will the PO file be bigger or smaller than my ARB?
It depends on the content: entries are blank-line-separated blocks of msgid and msgstr, each a sequence of C-style quoted strings that concatenate across lines. Convert one representative file first and compare before batch-processing a large set.
What happens to the metadata in my ARB file?
In .arb, keys and their translated values are preserved. @-prefixed metadata — descriptions, placeholder types and formats — and the @@locale marker are skipped rather than converted, because flat key-value targets have nowhere to put them. Re-encoding through the browser pipeline does not carry embedded metadata into the output, which doubles as a privacy scrub — check the exported file if you specifically need tags preserved.
Can I convert PO back to ARB?
Yes — the reverse route exists as a separate tool. Bear in mind that round-tripping .arb → .po → .arb is not a perfect undo when any lossy step is involved; keep your original if fidelity matters.