Add your POT file
Drop one or more .pot 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.
POT to XLF
Converting a .pot font to .xlf 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 POT 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 GNU gettext template to XLIFF 1.2
Converting a .pot font to .xlf repackages the same glyphs and metrics for a different delivery target. A .pot file is a gettext Portable Object Template: the same grammar as a .po file, but with every msgstr deliberately empty. It is the extraction output — the list of every translatable string found in a codebase — from which each language's .po file is created and later merged.
A .xlf file is an XLIFF document — the OASIS XML standard for moving translation work between tools. Each translatable string becomes a trans-unit holding a source element and, once translated, a target element, wrapped in a file element that records the source and target languages. For this route the practical draw is a real published standard rather than a vendor convention and expresses review state and inline formatting that simpler formats cannot — balanced against verbose — several lines of markup per string, which is worth knowing before you commit a large batch.
Why convert POT to XLF?
The practical trigger for this conversion is usually a mismatch: with .pot, contains no translations, so it is easy to mistake an empty catalog for a broken one. Switching to .xlf buys you a real published standard rather than a vendor convention, which is why it is the better fit for sending strings to a translation agency and getting reviewed work back. Because the conversion runs locally, trying it costs nothing but a few seconds of compute on your own machine.
POT vs XLF at a glance
| Aspect | GNU gettext template (.pot) | XLIFF 1.2 (.xlf) |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | syntactically identical to .po; the difference is semantic — msgstr values are empty by definition | the root xliff element declares a version; file elements carry source-language and target-language attributes |
| Strongest at | handing a complete string inventory to translators or a translation vendor | sending strings to a translation agency and getting reviewed work back |
| Weak spot | contains no translations, so it is easy to mistake an empty catalog for a broken one | verbose — several lines of markup per string |
| Metadata | identifiers, source strings and context survive. Empty targets are preserved as empty rather than being filled from the source. Header placeholders and source references are not carried into formats with no equivalent field | unit identifiers, source and target text and the declared source/target languages are preserved. Translation state, notes and inline placeholder markup are not carried into flat key-value formats, which have nowhere to record them |
Pick XLF as the output
Select .xlf in the output menu next to each file. The menu only offers targets this engine can genuinely produce, so if XLF 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 XLF file. Outputs keep the original filename with the .xlf extension.
POT to XLF questions, answered
Will converting POT to XLF lose quality?
There is no visual quality to lose — pot is text-oriented and xlf 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 POT files here?
Yes — the .pot 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 XLF file work?
Every serious translation management system reads XLIFF 1.2, and it is the safest common denominator for handing work to a vendor. Novus Convert reads both 1.2 trans-units and 2.0 units through one bounded parser, rejects documents carrying a doctype or custom entities outright, and converts to and from the other localization formats locally.
Will the XLF file be bigger or smaller than my POT?
It depends on the content: the root xliff element declares a version; file elements carry source-language and target-language attributes. Convert one representative file first and compare before batch-processing a large set.
What happens to the metadata in my POT file?
In .pot, identifiers, source strings and context survive. Empty targets are preserved as empty rather than being filled from the source. Header placeholders and source references are not carried into formats with no equivalent field. 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 XLF back to POT?
Yes — the reverse route exists as a separate tool. Bear in mind that round-tripping .pot → .xlf → .pot is not a perfect undo when any lossy step is involved; keep your original if fidelity matters.