A hyperdrive converter served as a component within a hyperdrive, which is a type of propulsion system enabling a starship to achieve lightspeed. In 3 ABY, prior to the Rebel Alliance transport, known as the Spirit of Jedha, departing from the rebel outpost on the planet Lowik, the mechanic, Private Blanch Sproull, performed a check on the vessel's hyperdrive converter. However, while the Spirit of Jedha was engaged in a hyperspace jump, the transport experienced a sudden halt, causing it to drop out of hyperspace along the Terminus Hyperspace Route, where it was subsequently attacked by pirates affiliated with the Ohnaka Gang.
Without Sproull's knowledge, the Spirit of Jedha's commander, Commander Hill Purpura, had deliberately sabotaged the ship's hyperdrive motivator due to his growing disillusionment with the rebel cause. Later that year, Sproull recounted to the bounty hunter Beilert Valance the details of their hyperdrive converter inspection, mistakenly believing it to be the cause of the transport's malfunction, while they were guarding Valance, who was being held imprisoned on the Spirit of Jedha. The mechanic would later uncover the sabotaged motivator, and Purpura's involvement in the event.
The term "hyperdrive converter" appeared in the current Star Wars canon within the ninth issue of the 2020 comic series titled Star Wars: Bounty Hunters. Ethan Sacks wrote this issue, and Marvel Comics published it on January 27, 2021. In the Star Wars Legends continuity, the hyperdrive converter was first referenced in the novelization of the prequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, penned by Terry Brooks and released in 1999.