Kruti Dev to Unicode Converter

Paste your Kruti Dev encoded text and convert it to proper Unicode Devanagari instantly. Free, no installation needed.

How to use: If you have old documents using Kruti Dev fonts, copy the text from those documents (it will look like Latin letters), paste it below, and click Convert. The tool will output proper Unicode Devanagari that works everywhere.
Output — Unicode Devanagari

Need the opposite direction? Use the Unicode to Kruti Dev converter.

Step-by-Step

How to Convert Kruti Dev to Unicode

Open your old document

Open the Word file, PDF, or notepad file that was created using Kruti Dev font. The text will appear as Roman/English-like characters.

Select all & copy

Press Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C to copy all text from the document. Do not change the font before copying.

Paste in the input box

Click the left box on this page and paste (Ctrl+V). You'll see garbled Roman letters — that's normal. That's Kruti Dev encoding.

Click "Convert to Unicode"

Hit the red Convert button. The right panel instantly shows proper Devanagari Unicode text — readable on any device, in any browser, without any font installed.

Copy & use anywhere

Click Copy Output, then paste the Unicode text into WhatsApp, Google Docs, your website, or anywhere else. No special font required.

⚠ Important: This tool works best with text typed or saved in Kruti Dev 010 (the most common variant). If your output looks incorrect, your document may use a different Kruti Dev variant. Check whether the font name ends in 010, 011, 016, or another number and adjust accordingly.
Background

What is Kruti Dev?

Kruti Dev is a legacy Hindi typeface that was widely used in India throughout the 1990s and 2000s — particularly in government offices, newspapers, courts, schools, and print shops. It was one of the earliest ways to type Hindi on computers running Windows.

The catch: Kruti Dev is not a real Devanagari font. It's actually an ASCII font — meaning it maps standard English keyboard characters to Devanagari-looking glyphs. When you type d, the font displays it as क. Remove the font, and all you're left with is a bunch of English letters that make no sense.

This is why millions of old Hindi documents appear as gibberish on modern phones and web browsers — the Kruti Dev font isn't installed, so the encoding trick breaks down completely.

Kruti Dev at a glance

Type ASCII / legacy encoding
Popular variants 010, 011, 016, 055
Era of peak use 1995 – 2010
Used in Govt, courts, print, news
Current status ⚠ Obsolete — migrate to Unicode
Did you know? There are over 50 variants of Kruti Dev (010 through 055+). Each one uses a slightly different character mapping — which is why text from one variant may not convert correctly using another variant's mapping table.
Why it matters

Why Switch to Unicode Devanagari?

Unicode is the global standard for text encoding. Here's what changes the moment you convert your Kruti Dev files to Unicode.

Google can index it

Search engines cannot read Kruti Dev text — they see random ASCII. Unicode Devanagari is indexed just like English, making your Hindi content discoverable online.

Works on every device

Every modern phone, tablet, and computer supports Unicode Hindi natively. No font installation. No broken characters. Your text just works, everywhere.

Copy-paste actually works

Copying Kruti Dev text across apps produces garbage. Unicode copies cleanly into WhatsApp, Gmail, Word, Google Sheets, and any other application.

Screen readers support it

Visually impaired users relying on screen readers get complete gibberish from Kruti Dev files. Unicode is fully accessible — screen readers pronounce it correctly.

Font freedom

Once in Unicode, your Hindi text can use any Devanagari font — Noto Sans, Mangal, Poppins Devanagari, Google Fonts, or any custom typeface — without re-encoding.

Government & legal standard

The Government of India officially mandated Unicode for all digital Hindi content since 2010. Many portals, e-courts, and filing systems now only accept Unicode Devanagari.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

My output still looks like garbage after converting. What's wrong?
This usually means your document was made with a Kruti Dev variant other than 010 — for example, Kruti Dev 016 or 055. Different variants have slightly different character mappings. Try converting a small known word (like your name in Hindi) first to check if the output makes sense. If not, check the font name in the original document and let us know via the Contact page — we can add support for more variants.
Is my text stored anywhere when I convert it?
No. The conversion happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your text is never sent to any server. You can even disconnect from the internet and the converter will continue to work on text already in the input box. Your content stays completely private.
Can I convert Unicode back to Kruti Dev?
Yes — reverse conversion (Unicode → Kruti Dev) is possible, though we don't recommend it for new content. If you need it for printing in a legacy setup, use our Unicode to Kruti Dev converter.
Does this work with Mangal, Chanakya, or other Hindi fonts?
Mangal is already a Unicode font, so you don't need to convert Mangal text — it works everywhere as-is. Chanakya, like Kruti Dev, is a legacy ASCII-based font and has a different mapping table. This tool is specifically built for Kruti Dev 010. Chanakya support may be added in a future update.
How much text can I convert at once?
Since everything runs in your browser, there's no server-side limit. In practice, the tool handles several thousand words instantly. For very large documents (50,000+ words), we recommend splitting the text into chunks of 10,000–15,000 words to avoid browser slowdown.
The converted text looks correct but doesn't paste into Word correctly. Why?
When pasting Unicode Devanagari into MS Word, make sure you use Paste Special → Unformatted Text (Ctrl+Shift+V on Windows). Then manually set the font to a Devanagari-compatible font like Mangal, Nirmala UI, or any Google Font that supports Devanagari. Do not keep the Kruti Dev font applied to the pasted text.

Stop Losing Your Hindi Content to Legacy Encoding

Millions of pages of Hindi knowledge — court judgments, school textbooks, newspaper archives, government orders — are locked inside Kruti Dev files that modern devices can't read. Converting to Unicode takes seconds, and it's permanent. Your content becomes searchable, shareable, and future-proof.

Free · No signup · Runs in your browser · Private

Why Convert to Unicode?

Kruti Dev text:
Not searchable by Google. Doesn't copy correctly across devices. Requires Kruti Dev font installed to display. Breaks on web and mobile.
Unicode text:
Fully searchable. Copies and pastes anywhere. Works on all devices and apps without any font installed. Renders correctly on websites and mobile.

For all new content, always use Unicode Devanagari. For old content, use this converter to update your documents. Read our full Kruti Dev guide →