5 Best Free File Converters for Occasionally Used Formats

Free converters for compressed, disc image, fonts, and other formats

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Tim Fisher
General Manager, VP, Lifewire.com
Tim Fisher has 30+ years' professional technology support experience. He writes troubleshooting content and is the General Manager of Lifewire.
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Tim Fisher
Updated April 06, 2020

But, what if the file you need converted isn't one of these types of files? There are many formats that are not video, audio, image, or document based.

Here are several freeware file converters for several less common formats like disc images, fonts, compressed files, and more:

Most of these programs convert only certain types of files, so look through them all for one that supports the file type you need to convert.

01
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ImgBurn: Disc Image Converter

ImgBurn program

ImgBurn is a free disc image converter program that supports the majority of common disc image formats.

Input Formats: APE, BIN, CCD, CDI, CDR, CUE, DI, DVD, FLAC, GCM, GI, IBQ, IMG, ISO, LST, MDS, NRG, PDI, TAK, UDI, and WV

Output Formats: BIN, IMG, ISO, and MINISO

Actually, ImgBurn is an advanced, full-featured CD/DVD/BD disc burning and image management tool but it works great at converting between most popular disc image file types.

To convert between disc file formats, choose Create image file from files/folders on the main screen. In the Source area, browse for the file you want to convert, and then in the Destination section, choose where to save the exported file to get a list of the output formats to pick from.

ImgBurn can be used on Windows 10 down through Windows 95, including Windows Server 2008 and 2003. ImgBurn also runs on Linux.

ImgBurn may try to install another program or two during setup that you don't need. You can easily skip over them if you wish.

02
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FontConverter.org: Font Converter

FontConverter.org

FontConverter.org is, you guessed it, a free font converter. The service operates all online—no download required—and it supports just about every font format that has ever existed. Files can be up to 10 MB in size.

Input Formats:  TTF, OTF, PFB, DFONT, OTB, FON, FNT, SVG, TTC, BDF, SFD, CFF, PFA, OFM, ACFM, AMFM, CHA, and CHR

Output Formats: TTF, OTF, WOFF, SVG, UFO, EOT, PFA, PFB, BIN, PT3, PS, CFF, FON, T42, T11, and TTF.BIN

03
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Zamzar: Compressed File Converter

Zamzar website

Zamzar is an online file converter service that supports several popular archive and compressed file formats.

Input Formats: 7Z, TAR.BZ2, CAB, LZH, RAR, TAR, TAR.GZH, YZ1, and ZIP

Output Formats: 7Z, TAR.BZ2, CAB, LZH, TAR, TAR.GZH, YZ1, and ZIP

Zamzar is also a very good image converter and document converter.

The 150 MB source file limit at Zamzar makes it ideal to use the service for bigger compressed files. However, Zamzar's conversion time is sometimes slower than other online file converters we've tested, and you're limited to converting just two files every 24 hours.

04
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FileZigZag: Compressed File Converter

FileZigZag ZIP to 7Z conversion

FileZigZag is another online file converter service that will convert several compressed and archive file formats.

Input Formats: 7Z, 7ZIP, AR, ARJ, BZ2, BZIP2, CAB, CPIO, DEB, DMG, GZ, GZIP, HFS, ISO, LHA, LZH, LZMA, RAR, RPM, SWM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TBZ2, TGZ, WIM, XAR, XZ, Z, and ZIP

Output Formats: 7Z, 7ZIP, BZ2, BZIP2, GZ, GZIP, RAR, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TBZ2, TGZ, and ZIP

FileZigZag sometimes seems to take some time to convert files, especially those that are large, but it's usually still faster than other online conversion tools and supports files as large as 150 MB. However, it does function well as a document converter and an image converter because those types of files are usually much smaller than archive files.

05
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Convertio: Compressed File Converter

Convertio website

Convertio is an online file converter that lets you upload files not only from your computer or a URL but also through your Dropbox or Google Drive account.

Converted files can be saved back to your computer or saved to one of the above cloud storage services.

Input Formats: 7Z, ACE, ALZ, ARC, ARJ, CAB, CPIO, DEB, JAR, LHA, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAR.7Z, TAR.BZ, TAR.LZ, TAR.LZMA, TAR.LZO, TAR.XZ, TAR.Z, TBZ2, TGZ, and ZIP

Output Formats: 7Z, ARJ, CPIO, JAR, LHA, RAR, TAR, TAR.7Z, TAR.BZ, TAR.LZ, TAR.LZMA, TAR.LZO, TAR.XZ, TAR.Z, TBZ2, TGZ, and ZIP

Convertio supports these conversion types, which includes lots of different image, document, eBook, and audio file formats as well. Free users can upload files as large as 100 MB.

Just like with the online services from above, Convertio supports all modern web browsers and operating systems.