diff --git a/tools/python/categories/txt_to_json.py b/tools/python/categories/txt_to_json.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..b933e7ad8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/python/categories/txt_to_json.py
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+import os
+import json
+import sys
+
+LANGUAGES = (
+    'af', 'ar', 'be', 'bg', 'ca', 'cs', 'da', 'de', 'el', 'en', 'en-AU',
+    'en-GB', 'en-US', 'es', 'es-MX', 'et', 'eu', 'fa', 'fi', 'fr', 'fr-CA',
+    'he', 'hi', 'hu', 'id', 'it', 'ja', 'ko', 'lt', 'lv', 'mr', 'nb', 'nl',
+    'pl', 'pt', 'pt-BR', 'ro', 'ru', 'sk', 'sr', 'sv', 'sw', 'th', 'tr', 'uk',
+    'vi', 'zh-Hans', 'zh-Hant'
+)
+
+# TODO: respect the order of key/values in the JSON when converting back and forth
+
+def parse_translations(input_file):
+    """
+    Parses a translation file and generates a JSON file per language.
+    """
+    # Read the input file line by line
+    with open(input_file, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+        lines = [line.rstrip('\n') for line in f]
+
+    # Split the file into blocks separated by empty lines
+    blocks = []
+    current_block = []
+    for line in lines:
+        stripped_line = line.strip()
+        if stripped_line.startswith('#'):
+            continue
+        if not stripped_line:
+            if current_block:
+                blocks.append(current_block)
+                current_block = []
+        else:
+            current_block.append(line)
+    if current_block:
+        blocks.append(current_block)
+
+    # Initialize dictionaries for each language
+    lang_data = {lang: {} for lang in LANGUAGES}
+
+    # Process each block
+    for block in blocks:
+        key_line = block[0]
+        has_translation = False
+        for line in block[1:]:
+            if ':' not in line:
+                print(f"Skipping invalid line: {line}")
+                continue
+            lang, translation = line.split(':', 1)
+            lang = lang.strip()
+            translation = translation.strip()
+            if lang in LANGUAGES:
+                lang_data[lang][key_line] = translation
+                has_translation = True
+            else:
+                print(f"Warning: Unsupported language {lang} in line: {line}")
+
+        if not has_translation:
+            lang_data['en'][key_line] = ""
+
+    # Write JSON files
+    for lang, data in lang_data.items():
+        if not data:
+            continue
+        dir_name = f"{lang}.json"
+        os.makedirs(dir_name, exist_ok=True)
+        file_path = os.path.join(dir_name, 'localize.json')
+        with open(file_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            f.write(json.dumps(data, ensure_ascii=False, separators=(",\n", ": ")).replace('{', '{\n').replace('}', '\n}'))
+
+
+def main():
+    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
+        print(f"Usage: {sys.argv[0]} <categories.txt>")
+        sys.exit(1)
+    input_file = sys.argv[1]
+    parse_translations(input_file)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()