---
name: "pktogf"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "texlive-doc"
version: "2026.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pktogf"
---

# pktogf(1)

convert packed font files to generic font files (both bitmaps)

## NAME

pktogf - convert packed font files to generic font files (both bitmaps)

## SYNOPSIS

**pktogf** \[**-v**\] *pk\_file* \[*gf\_file*\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **pktogf** program converts a packed font bitmap file (*pk*) to a generic font bitmap file (*gf*). Packed font files are much smaller than the corresponding *gf* files, but you may want to convert to *gf* in order to use [**gftype**(1)](/gftype/1.md) and [**gftodvi**(1)](/gftodvi/1.md) utility programs.

The *pk\_file* on the command line must include the resolution, but can omit the suffix "pk". The *gf\_file* defaults to the same base name as *pk\_file*, and it is placed in the current working directory with the **gf** suffix replacing **pk**. For example, the input file */some/directory/io.300pk* would become *io.300gf*.

## OPTIONS

See [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md) for details of command-line parsing. By default, **pktogf** operates silently.  With the **-v** (a.k.a. **-verbose**) option, the version number of the program and statistics about the unpacking are output to stdout.

The standard **-help** and **-version** options are also supported.

## ENVIRONMENT

The program looks for *pk\_file* using the environment variables PKFONTS, TEXPKS, GLYPHFONTS, and TEXFONTS, in that order. If none are set, it uses the system default. See the Kpathsea manual at https://tug.org/kpathsea for the details of the searching.

## SEE ALSO

[**gftodvi**(1)](/gftodvi/1.md), [**gftopk**(1)](/gftopk/1.md), [**gftype**(1)](/gftype/1.md), [**pktype**(1)](/pktype/1.md).\
 Donald E. Knuth et al., *Metafontware*.

Package page on CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/pktogf\
 Section in the Web2c manual: https://tug.org/texinfohtml/web2c.html#pktogf-invocation\
 Typeset source code, including file format descriptions: https://ctan.org/pkg/knuth-pdf

## AUTHORS

Tomas Rokicki wrote the program. Pierre MacKay adapted it for compilation with web2c.

Public discussion list and bug reports: https://lists.tug.org/tex-k