Compatibility
File format compatibility
Every converter here is measured on test files before it goes live: 157 files across DXF drawings, Access databases (MDB and ACCDB), dBase tables (DBF), Spreadsheets, Plot files (PLT) and Paradox tables, each run through the same converter code you use.
Which files does TurboConvert open, and how well? For each format below you'll find how many test files we convert, where they come from and under which licence, which versions they cover, the independent reader we compare our results with where there is one, what we measured, and what doesn't convert yet.
Updated . Our test suite runs these measurements again on every change and fails if a number moves without this page moving with it.
DXF drawings
- Test files
- 53
- Versions and file types
- AutoCAD 2000, AC1015 (5); AutoCAD 2004, AC1018 (3); AutoCAD 2007, AC1021 (18); AutoCAD 2010, AC1024 (1); AutoCAD 2013, AC1027 (15); AutoCAD 2018, AC1032 (7); binary DXF (1, refused); no version header (3)
- Independent reader
- ezdxf 1.4.4
- Converter pages
- All about DXF files
Where the test files come from
- skymakerolof/dxf MIT
- mozman/ezdxf MIT
What we measured
- Measured on 49 licensed test drawings: 2,748 of 2,755 entities drawn or approximated, checked against an independent open-source DXF reader.
Known gaps
- Line types. Dashed, dotted and centre lines are drawn solid (1 of our test drawings uses them).
- Line weights. Every line gets the same width (6 of our test drawings set weights).
- Characters outside Windows Latin-1. Become "?" in the PDF; DXF to SVG keeps them (18 characters in our test drawings).
- Paper space layouts. Layouts, where sheets are arranged for printing, are left out; the model space, where the drawing itself is, is converted (39 entities in 8 of our test drawings).
- External references (XREF). Not loaded: the referenced drawing lives in another file.
- Dimensions without saved geometry. Left out, with a note (1 in our test drawings).
- Embedded OLE objects. Pasted-in content, such as a spreadsheet or a picture, is left out (1 in our test drawings).
- Binary DXF. Can't be read yet; save the drawing as ASCII DXF in your CAD app (1 of our test files is binary).
Access databases (MDB and ACCDB)
- Test files
- 28
- Versions and file types
- Access 97 (Jet 3) (2); Access 2000 to 2003 (Jet 4) (9); Access 2007 (ACE 12) (8); Access 2010 (ACE 14) (7); Access 2016 (ACE 16) (2)
- Independent reader
- None: these counts come from our own converter
- Converter pages
- All about MDB files, All about ACCDB files
Where the test files come from
- andipaetzold/mdb-reader MIT
What we measured
- Measured on our 28 licensed test databases, from Access 97 (Jet3) to Access 2016 (ACE16): 56 of 56 test conversions finished.
Known gaps
- Queries, relationships, forms, reports, macros and modules. Stay in Access: only table data is exported, and every conversion says so in its notes.
- Field formats, input masks, validation rules, lookups, keys and indexes. Stay in Access. Values come out as they are stored, so currency has no symbol and rows keep their stored order.
- Linked tables. Not exported: their data lives in another file.
- System and temporary tables. Left out (2 temporary tables in our test databases).
- Databases over 8,000,000 cells. Too large for an XLSX made in the browser. CSV converts them.
dBase tables (DBF)
- Test files
- 30
- Versions and file types
- dBase II (1); dBase III and later, without a memo file (14); Visual FoxPro (7); Visual FoxPro, with an autoincrement field (1); Visual FoxPro, with varchar or varbinary fields (1); dBase III Plus, with a .dbt memo file (1); dBase IV, with a .dbt memo file (2); dBase 7 (1); FoxPro 2 or earlier, with an .fpt memo file (1); damaged file (1, refused)
- Independent reader
- dbfread 2.0.7
- Converter pages
- All about DBF files
Where the test files come from
- yortus/DBFFile MIT
- infused/dbf MIT
- OSGeo/gdal MIT/X
- nvkelso/natural-earth-vector Public domain
What we measured
- Measured on our 30 licensed test files.
- Written as dBase III (version byte 0x03). Measured by converting our 29 readable test files to CSV, comma- and semicolon-separated, and back.
- Measured by converting our 29 readable test files to Excel workbooks and back.
Known gaps
- Records marked as deleted. Left out, as dBase does when it packs a table (4 in our test files).
- OLE and picture fields. Left out, and named in the notes (1 in our test files).
- Tables over 8,000,000 cells. Too large for an XLSX made in the browser. DBF to CSV converts them.
- Memo fields. Not written: long text goes into a text field of up to 254 bytes.
- More than 255 columns. Not converted: the DBF we write holds at most 255 fields.
- Cell formatting. Percent, currency and number formats stay in Excel: the stored value is written, so 12.5% arrives as 0.125.
Spreadsheets
- Test files
- 10
- Versions and file types
- 123; WK1; WK3; WK4; WKS
- Independent reader
- LibreOffice 26.8 + Gnumeric 1.12.62
- Converter pages
- All about Lotus 1-2-3 files
Where the test files come from
- Apache Tika Apache-2.0
- Apache POI Apache-2.0
- LibreOffice core MPL-2.0
- Test files written for this site CC0-1.0
What we measured
- Measured on our 10 licensed Lotus 1-2-3 test files, checked cell by cell against LibreOffice and Gnumeric.
Known gaps
- Charts, macros, styles and column widths. Stay in the original file: only cell values are exported, with number formats in Excel, and every conversion says so in its notes.
- Password-protected files. Not opened: remove the password in the original app and save again.
Plot files (PLT)
- Test files
- 26
- Independent reader
- ezdxf 1.4.4 hpgl2
- Converter pages
- All about PLT files
Where the test files come from
- mozman/ezdxf MIT
- Test files written for this site CC0-1.0
What we measured
- Measured on our 26 licensed test files: 19 plots converted, 4 of them real plots checked against an independent HP-GL/2 reader.
Known gaps
- PostScript, PCL text and raster (RTL) files. Not converted: they hold no HP-GL drawing, or only a raster image (6 of our test files).
Paradox tables
- Test files
- 10
- Independent reader
- pxlib 0.6.5 (pypxlib 2.5) and paradox-reader 1.9.4
- Converter pages
- All about Paradox files
Where the test files come from
- Test files written for this site CC0-1.0
What we measured
- Measured on our 8 test tables, written for this site to cover every Paradox field type, and checked value by value against two independent Paradox readers.
Known gaps
- Password-protected tables. Not opened: remove the password in Paradox first.
- Indexes, forms, reports and queries. Stay in Paradox: only table data is exported. A .px index file added with the table is ignored.
- Other files named .db. SQLite databases and Windows thumbnail caches are recognised and refused (2 of our test files).
- Tables over 8,000,000 cells. Too large for an XLSX made in the browser. Paradox to CSV converts them.
How we test
Test files come from the open-source projects listed above, under the licence shown, or are written for this site and released as CC0. We only keep files whose origin and licence are clear. Each one is converted by the same code that runs in your browser, and the counts above come straight from those runs.
Where an independent reader exists, its output for the same file is the yardstick, and the results above say how much of it we match. Formats that aren't listed here haven't been released yet. To check that a conversion stays on your device, follow the steps in Check it yourself.