Fixed-point optimization utility software that can aid scaling and wordlength determination of digital signal processign algorithms written in C or C$^$++/ language is developed. This utility consists of two programs: the range estimator and the fixed-point simulator. The former estimates the ranges of floating-point variables for automatic scaling purpose, and the latter translates floating-point programs into fixed-point equivalents for evaluating te fixed-point performance by simulation. By exploiting the operator overloading characteristics of C$^$++/ language, the range estimation and the fixed-point simulation can be conducted just by modifying the variable declaration of the original program. This utility is easily applicable to nearly all types of digital signal processing programs including non-linear, time-varying, multi-rate, and multi-dimensional signal processing algorithms. In addition, this software can be used for comparing the fixed-point characteristics of different implementation architectures.