Open a DBF file without database software
Converting to HTML is the quickest way to see what's inside a DBF when you don't have dBASE, FoxPro or a spreadsheet program at hand. You get an HTML file with your records laid out as a table, with the field names across the top. Double-click it and it opens in Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge on any computer or phone.
How to convert DBF to HTML
- Upload the .dbf file using the box above.
- Select HTML as the output.
- Convert and download, then open the .html file in your browser.
The file is converted on our servers. Our DBF reader decodes the table into a clean spreadsheet first, and LibreOffice writes that spreadsheet out as HTML.
Readable text in any language
Old DBF files rarely store text as UTF-8. They use the code page of the system that created them, such as Windows-1251 for Russian or Windows-1253 for Greek, and note it in the file header. We read that note, or work the code page out from the text when the header is blank, so names and addresses in the HTML page look the way they did in the original program. Dates, numbers and TRUE/FALSE fields come through as values rather than raw DBF codes.
Is a .db file the same as a .dbf file?
No. A .dbf file is a dBASE-style table, the format FoxPro, Clipper-era software and many GIS tools write. A .db file is usually something else entirely, often a SQLite or Paradox database, and this converter won't read it. If your file ends in .dbf, you're in the right place. If it ends in .db, it needs a tool for that database type.
Limits and other formats
dBASE 7 tables aren't supported yet, and a file that isn't really a DBF table gets a message instead of an empty page. If you want to sort or filter the records rather than just read them, use DBF to XLSX. For a file you can print or attach, DBF to PDF works better. The DBF converter lists every option, and the HTML converter covers HTML files.