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 QTS
Converting a .arb font to .qts 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 Qt Linguist TS
Converting a .arb font to .qts 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 Qt Linguist translation source — catalogued here as .qts — is the XML file a Qt application is translated in: a <TS> document holding <context> groups, each containing <message> elements that pair a <source> string with its <translation>. Qt names these files .ts, which collides with TypeScript, so Novus Convert recognises them by the .qt.ts suffix and files them under .qts to keep the two apart. For this route the practical draw is context grouping gives translators genuine information about where a string appears and review state and obsolete strings are typed attributes, not conventions — balanced against the .ts extension collides with TypeScript, which breaks naive tooling constantly, which is worth knowing before you commit a large batch.
Why convert ARB to QTS?
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 .qts buys you context grouping gives translators genuine information about where a string appears, which is why it is the better fit for translating a Qt or KDE desktop application. Because the conversion runs locally, trying it costs nothing but a few seconds of compute on your own machine.
ARB vs QTS at a glance
| Aspect | Application Resource Bundle (.arb) | Qt Linguist TS (.qts) |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | the root <TS> element carries a version and the target language; <context> groups messages under a <name>, conventionally the class that contains them |
| Strongest at | localising a Flutter application through gen_l10n | translating a Qt or KDE desktop application |
| Weak spot | the @-key convention doubles the entry count and looks odd to anyone new to it | the .ts extension collides with TypeScript, which breaks naive tooling constantly |
| 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 | source strings and translations are preserved, keyed on the source text. Context grouping, source locations, the unfinished/vanished state attribute and numerus plural forms are not represented in flat catalog targets |
Pick QTS as the output
Select .qts in the output menu next to each file. The menu only offers targets this engine can genuinely produce, so if QTS 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 QTS file. Outputs keep the original filename with the .qts extension.
ARB to QTS questions, answered
Will converting ARB to QTS lose quality?
There is no visual quality to lose — arb is text-oriented and qts 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 QTS file work?
Qt Linguist, Qt Creator and KDE's Lokalize read .ts natively, and the larger translation platforms support it. Elsewhere it is rarely recognised — and the extension collision means generic tools frequently mistake it for TypeScript. Novus Convert keys entries on the source text, rejects documents with a doctype or custom entities, and converts to and from the other localization formats.
Will the QTS file be bigger or smaller than my ARB?
It depends on the content: the root <TS> element carries a version and the target language; <context> groups messages under a <name>, conventionally the class that contains them. 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 QTS back to ARB?
Yes — the reverse route exists as a separate tool. Bear in mind that round-tripping .arb → .qts → .arb is not a perfect undo when any lossy step is involved; keep your original if fidelity matters.