FM Abhaya to Unicode Converter - Fix Sinhala Text from Old FM Fonts
Paste Sinhala that was typed in FM Abhaya, FM Malithi or another FM font and appears as English letters and symbols, and get Unicode Sinhala you can paste into Word, email, Facebook or a website.
Maintained by Hirantha Sandaruwan Lakshan. Updated 28 October 2026.
About this tool
Y%S ,xld becomes ශ්රී ලංකා. It handles the kombuva, rakaransaya, yansaya and the joined letters of the FM fonts. Nothing you paste leaves your browser.
How it works
FM fonts are not real Sinhala fonts in the Unicode sense. They draw Sinhala shapes over the codes of ordinary English letters and symbols, so ශ්රී ලංකා is stored as Y%S ,xld. With the font installed it looks right; without it, or when the text is copied into a phone, an email or a search box, it turns back into letters.
The converter maps each FM code to its Sinhala letter or sign, then puts each syllable into the order Unicode stores it. FM text is typed in the order the shapes appear: the kombuva (ෙ) comes before its consonant, so fmdf;a has to become පොතේ, and a vowel sign can be typed before the rakaransaya, as in ;s% for ත්රි. Joined shapes such as ú (වි), § (දී) and ÷ (ඳු) are split back into letters.
The character map was checked against a published FM converter's table, and against Government Gazette pages whose FM text and printed Sinhala are both available. A full comparison over 1,480 letter and sign combinations found no difference in letters except where the other converter misses a rule or has a mistake.
Every Latin letter is a Sinhala letter in an FM font, so English words in the same text come out as Sinhala characters: convert the Sinhala parts on their own. DL, Kaputa and other legacy fonts use different layouts and are not covered. Proof-read names and numbers after converting.
Worked examples
A Gazette heading
Y%S ,xld m%cd;dka;%sl iudcjd§ ckrcfha .eiÜ m;%h becomes ශ්රී ලංකා ප්රජාතාන්ත්රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ ගැසට් පත්රය.
A date line
wxl 2054$9 - 2018 ckjdß ui 15 jeks i÷od becomes අංක 2054/9 - 2018 ජනවාරි මස 15 වැනි සඳුදා. FM uses $ for the slash, so that is converted too.
Words with joined letters
úYajúoHd,h becomes විශ්වවිද්යාලය, ld¾hd,h becomes කාර්යාලය and wdhqfndajka becomes ආයුබෝවන්.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert FM Abhaya to Unicode?
Copy the text out of the document (it will look like English letters and symbols, for example Y%S ,xld), paste it into the box, and copy the Unicode Sinhala from the result. Y%S ,xld becomes ශ්රී ලංකා.
Why does my Sinhala text turn into English letters?
Because it was typed in an FM font, which stores Sinhala shapes on the codes of English letters. Without that font, or after copying, you see the letters themselves. Unicode Sinhala does not have this problem.
Does it work for FM Malithi and other FM fonts?
Yes, for fonts that use the FM layout, such as FM Abhaya and FM Malithi. DL fonts, Kaputa and other legacy fonts use different layouts and are not covered.
Why did English words in my text change too?
In an FM font every Latin letter is a Sinhala letter, so the converter cannot tell English words apart. Convert the Sinhala parts on their own and keep the English as it is.
Is my text uploaded?
No. The conversion runs in your browser, so the text you paste is not sent anywhere or stored.
Sources & references
Updated Oct 28, 2026