Opening a PFA File

The PFA file type is primarily associated with FontForge.

PFA	File extension: PFA
	File type:	font

What is a PFA file?

PFA files mostly belong to FontForge by FontForge Developers. A PFA file is a PostScript Type 1 font. Its contains glyph information saved as ASCII text written in PostScript. PFA fonts are mainly used on Linux and UNIX-like platforms. PostScript fonts specifications were developed by Adobe and initially used for typesetting in Adobe desktop publishing programs. A PFA file written in PostScript can be compiled to a PS file using the PS interpreter. Font editors such as FontForge can also be used to create and edit a PFA file. Printer page and form definitions used by Page Printer Formatting Aid are saved in a different PFA file.

How to open a PFA file

You need a suitable software like FontForge to open a PFA file. Without proper software you will receive a Windows message "How do you want to open this file?" or "Windows cannot open this file" or a similar Mac/iPhone/Android alert. If you cannot open your PFA file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a PFA file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online PFA File Viewer

Choose your .pfa file to view

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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How to convert PFA files to JPG, PDF, HTML, DOC, ...

If you want to convert or edit a PFA file, you can use our free Online PFA File Converter (powered by Convert.Guru):

To do this, click the button "Choose your .pfa file to view" on this page.
After your file is opened in browser,
click "Save as..." in the menu.
Then click the file format (e.g. PDF, JPG, DOCX, TXT, ...) you want.
Download the converted file.

Programs that open and convert PFA files:

FontForge by FontForge Developers
See the previous paragraphs to learn more about the main application. PFA files are often referred to as FontForge fonts because this type of file is primarily created or used by this software.
PPFA (page definition) by IBM
PPFA (short for Page Printer Formatting Aid) is a program used to create page definitions and form definitions for resource libraries used to print application data. A page definition created by PPFA is saved in a PFA file. This file format is classified as Developer.

PFA file format details:

If you know the file format, you can also find out how to open or edit the file. The file format can be deduced from the file extension and the signature. Frequently, however, one file extension is used by different programs for different file formats, and one file format for different file extensions. So a detailed analysis of a file is vital in order to determine the format and the associated program. Our examination of the PFA files comes to the following conclusion:

The PFA file extension is not common and covers different formats for different programs. The file formats most commonly found in PFA files are:

50% of all PFA files are associated with Adobe Type 1 Font. If you open these files in a text editor, you can view and read the content yourself. A typical file size is 61 KB. The file type was used 20 years ago but is still in use today. The files contain the following words: CreationDate, PS-AdobeFont-1, Creator, Title, Version, Copyright and dict begin. Some examples of file names are OCRA.pfa. Such PFA files store data about font, bold and awlphon.
20% of all PFA files use the same file format, which have the signature PROFLOOR SCHEMATIC FILE ;V20. These files are plain text, which means they can be viewed with any text editor such as Windows Editor, Nano for Linux, and TextEdit for macOS. The files are on average 630 KB in size and range from 120 KB to 1 MB. The keywords Project, PROFLOOR SCHEMATIC FILE, ; Codepage=1252 and ;V2017.2.0 are typical for these files.

All other PFA files (30%) have no uniform format. Just click the "Choose your .pfa file to view" button on this page to find out what your PFA file is.

Technical Data for PFA File Extension

File classification:

Font

Related files:

pdf, docx, rpt, documents, zip, png, xlsx, doc, jpeg, msg, ai, pages, numbers, jpg, rar, 7z, txt, ps, py, 1, woff, woff2, sfd

Mime type:

application/x-font-type1, application/octet-stream

The following listing is compiled from the database produced by the 'Associate This!' program, selected data from the main FILExt database and file extension information submitted by users.

ProgramID: TypeTool.Font
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\FontLab\TypeTool\typetool.exe %1

ProgramID: PDAToolbox
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\PDAT\Pag.exe %1

ProgramID: TypeTool.Font
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\TypeTool\TYPETOOL.EXE

a pfa font is a special file format by FontForge Developers and should only be edited and saved with the appropriate software.

How to solve problems with PFA files

Associate the PFA file extension with the correct application.
Update your software that should actually open fonts. Because only the current version supports the latest PFA file format. Search, therefore, e.g. on the FontForge Developers manufacturer website after an available FontForge update.
To make sure that your PFA file is not corrupted or virus-infected, get the file again and scan it with Google's virustotal.com.
Click here to open your .PFA file online - secure, fast, and no downloads needed.