BFFNT (File Format)

BFFNT (Binary caFe FoNT) is a font file format used on Wii U and the Nintendo Switch.

File Format

Header

The file starts with a header which has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[4]	File magic. Always FFNT in ASCII.
0x04	UInt16	Byte-order-mark. FE FF for big endian, FF FE for little endian.
0x06	UInt16	Size of this header in bytes.
0x08	UInt32	Version number.
0x0C	UInt32	Size of the file in bytes.
0x10	UInt16	Number of sections stored in the file. There may be multiple code maps and character widths inside a file.
0x12	UInt16	Padding.

Font Information

The FINF (Font INFormation) section stores general information about the font, and it places directly after the header. It has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[4]	Section magic. Always FINF in ASCII.
0x04	UInt32	Size of this section in bytes.
0x08	Byte	Font type. 0 = Glyph, 1 = Texture, 2 = Packed texture.
0x09	Byte	Font height.
0x0A	Byte	Font width.
0x0B	Byte	Ascent.
0x0C	Int16	Line feed.
0x0E	UInt16	Alter character index.
0x10	SByte	Default left width.
0x11	Byte	Default glyph width.
0x12	Byte	Default character width.
0x13	Byte	Character code. 1 = Unicode, 2 = Shift JIS, 3 = CP1252
0x14	UInt32	Texture glyph offset. Relative to -8.
0x18	UInt32	Code map offset. Relative to -8.
0x1C	UInt32	Character width offset. Relative to -8.

Texture Glyph

The TGLP (Texture GLyPh) section stores the textures used in the font. On Wii U, the image data is stored directly, and on the Nintendo Switch the images are stored into a BNTX file, embedded inside the font.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[4]	Section magic. Always TGLP in ASCII.
0x04	UInt32	Size of this section in bytes.
0x08	Byte	Cell width.
0x09	Byte	Cell height.
0x0A	Byte	Number of image sheets. For Nintendo Switch, this is the number of images inside the BNTX file.
0x0B	Byte	Maximum character width.
0x0C	UInt32	Size of one image sheet in bytes. For Nintendo Switch, this seems to be size of BNTX divided by number of images.
0x10	Int16	Baseline position.
0x12	UInt16	Image format, see below. Bit 0x8000 means it's compressed, but it's currently not used. For Nintendo Switch, bit 0x4000 means the tile mode is linear, which means the image data is not swizzled.
0x14	UInt16	Number of rows.
0x16	UInt16	Number of lines.
0x18	UInt16	Image sheet width. Width of the images in pixels.
0x1A	UInt16	Image sheet height. Height of the images in pixels.
0x1C	UInt32	Image data offset, relative to the start of this file. For Wii U, this points directly to the first image. For Nintendo Switch, this points to the embedded BNTX file.

Image Formats

Wii U

The following image formats are supported on Wii U:

ID	Type	Color Space	Bits Per Pixel (BPP)
0x00	RGBA8	UNORM	32
0x01	RGB8	UNORM	24
0x02	RGB5A1	UNORM	16
0x03	RGB565	UNORM	16
0x04	RGBA4	UNORM	16
0x05	LA8	UNORM	16
0x06	LA4	UNORM	8
0x07	A4	UNORM	4
0x08	A8	UNORM	8
0x09	BC1	UNORM	4
0x0A	BC2	UNORM	8
0x0B	BC3	UNORM	8
0x0C	BC4	UNORM	4
0x0D	BC5	UNORM	8
0x0E	RGBA8	SRGB	32
0x0F	BC1	SRGB	4
0x10	BC2	SRGB	8
0x11	BC3	SRGB	8

Switch

Nintendo Switch supports the same formats as Wii U but adds support for the following formats:

ID	Type	Color Space	Bits Per Pixel (BPP)
0x12	BC7	UNORM	8
0x13	BC7	SRGB	8

Code Map

The CMAP (Code MAP) section maps character codes to character widths. The section starts with the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[4]	Section magic. Always CMAP in ASCII.
0x04	UInt32	Size of this section in bytes.
If version ≥ 3.0.0.0
0x08	UInt32	Character code begin. Always 0 for scan, because then this field is unused.
0x0C	UInt32	Character code end. Always 0xFFFFFFFFF for scan, because then this field is unused.
0x10	UInt16	Mapping method. 0 = Direct, 1 = Table, 2 = Scan
0x12	UInt16	Padding.
0x14	UInt32	Offset to the next code map structure, releative to -8. 0 if there is no following section.
Else
0x08	UInt16	Character code begin (B). Always 0 for scan, because then this field is unused.
0x0A	UInt16	Character code end (E). Always 0xFFFF for scan, because then this field is unused.
0x0C	UInt16	Mapping method. 0 = Direct, 1 = Table, 2 = Scan
0x0E	UInt16	Padding.
0x10	UInt32	Offset to the next code map structure, releative to -8. 0 if there is no following section.

What data follows depend on the mapping method.

Direct

The direct method maps multiple character codes to multiple character width entries. The following data is stored:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	UInt16	Character width entry index. Index of the first entry which maps to the first character code B. This method uses E - B + 1 character width entries.

Table

The table method also maps multiple character codes to multiple character width entries. The following data is stored:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	UInt16[E - B + 1]	Character width entry indices. Each index corresponds to one character code, starting at B.

Scan

The scan method maps multiple character codes to mutlple character width entries. This structure does not use B and E. The following data is stored.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	UInt16	Number of scan entries.

Each entry has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	UInt16	Character code.
0x02	UInt16	Character width entry index.

Character Width

The CWDH (Character WiDtH) section controls how the characters are stored in the images. The section starts with the following header:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[4]	Section magic. Always CWDH in ASCII.
0x04	UInt32	Size of this section in bytes.
0x08	UInt16	Global index of the first width entry (B).
0x0A	UInt16	Global index of the last width entry (E).
0x0C	UInt32	Offset to the next character width structure, releative to -8. 0 if there is no following section.

Width Entry

Width entries follow directly after the header. The amount can be calculated with: E - B + 1. There will always be at least one entry stored. Each entry has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	SByte	Left width. The width of the character's left space.
0x01	Byte	Glyph width of the character.
0x02	Byte	Width of the character.

Version List

Version	Found in
3.0.0.0	Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo Switch) Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Mario Kart 8 New Super Mario Bros. U Super Mario 3D World Super Mario Maker Splatoon
4.1.0.0	Animal Crossing: New Horizons ARMS Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo Switch) Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch Everybody 1-2-Switch! F-ZERO 99 Game Builder Garage Kirby's Dream Buffet Kirby at the Forgotten Land Kirby Fighters 2 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (S00018080-R00018076-A00000000 Prototype) Mario Party Superstars Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe Nintendo Labo - Toy-Con 01: Variety Kit Nintendo Labo - Toy-Con 02: Robot Kit Nintendo Labo - Toy-Con 03: Vehicle Kit Nintendo Labo - Toy-Con 04: VR Kit Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition PAC-MAN 99 Paper Mario: The Origami King Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Pikmin 3 Deluxe Pokémon Legends: Arceus Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! Pokémon Scarlet Pokémon Shield Pokémon Sword Pokémon Violet Ring Fit Adventure Splatoon 2 Splatoon 3 Super Kirby Clash Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury Super Mario Bros. Wonder Super Mario Maker 2 Super Mario Odyssey Super Mario Party Super Mario Party Jamboree Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido (Nintendo Switch) Tetris 99 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch) The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore WarioWare: Get It Together! WarioWare: Move It!

Tools

The following tools can handle BFFNT files:

• (none)