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

# vptovf(1)

convert TeX virtual property list (vpl) files to virtual font metric (vf) files

## NAME

vptovf - convert TeX virtual property list (vpl) files to virtual font metric (vf) files

## SYNOPSIS

**vptovf** \[**-verbose**\] *vpl\_file*\[***.vpl***\] \[*vfm\_file*\[***.vf***\] \[*tfm\_file*\[***.tfm***\]\]\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **vptovf** program translates a (plain text) property list file to a pair of (binary) files in vf (virtual font) and tfm (TeX font metric) formats. Thus, a virtual font file can be edited and its exact contents can be displayed mnemonically. New virtual fonts, which map characters as seen by TeX into an arbitrary sequence of low-level typesetting operations, can also be created in this way. See [**vftovp**(1)](/vftovp/1.md) for detailed references on virtual fonts.

All three filenames, *vpl\_file*, *vf\_file*, and *tfm\_file*, are extended with the appropriate suffix if necessary. No path searching is done for the *vpl\_file*.

## OPTIONS

By default, the program operates silently. With **-verbose**, some reports are written to stdout. The standard **-help** and **-version** options are also supported.

Font utility topic on CTAN: https://ctan.org/topic/font-util\
 Package page on CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/vptovf\
 Section in the Web2c manual: https://tug.org/texinfohtml/web2c.html#vptovf-invocation\
 Typeset source code, including the vpl file format description: https://ctan.org/pkg/knuth-pdf

## SEE ALSO

[**pltotf**(1)](/pltotf/1.md), [**tftopl**(1)](/tftopl/1.md), [**vftovp**(1)](/vftovp/1.md).

## AUTHORS

Donald E. Knuth wrote the program, based in part on an idea of David Fuchs, starting with the code for [**pltotf**(1)](/pltotf/1.md). Karl Berry adapted it for compilation with **web2c**.

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