How to open and convert BAK file on Windows

Sometimes, when you try to open a file in Windows, you’ll see this message: “Windows can’t open this file.”

This is because the file extension is not associated with the program that should be used to view the file.

BAK files sometimes show up in various locations like Windows or your desktop. If you want to open and convert the BAK file stored on your computer, in this article you will learn what should you do.

What Exactly Is a BAK File on Windows?

BAK is a backup file created by the Windows system and other applications.

The BAK files are usually created when the system or another application has to rebuild the configuration or an important file. In other words, a bak file is a store of copy of one or more files for backup purposes.

The file extension for BAK files is .bak. It contains information about the backed up data, which includes the date and time of backup, data size, and location of backed up data.

When you are using a Windows system, then BAK files are created automatically by a program that needs to store a backup.

How to Convert a BAK File on Windows?

As you already know, the BAK file extension stands for backup. It is a popular method of storing data on Windows to avoid accidental deletion or corruption.

The BAK extension is used with software that creates backup copies of files as they are being saved. It stores only the most recent versions of a file and deletes all previous versions.

Since the BAK format is a naming scheme used to identify backup files, it cannot be converted to another type of file.

However, there is a way to see what is inside a BAK file.

How to Open a BAK File on Windows?

If you find a BAK file on your computer and you want to open it, then it is important to know the location of the file.

Why?

Because then you can easily check which program or application on your system has created this backup file and then open it in the program.

But the most important thing to know is that there is no one program that can open all BAK files. This is simply because the BAK file is not an ordinary file, and it doesn’t work the same way.

If you don’t know which application has created the backup file, you have only one option to open it.

You have to use any program that can open the file as a text document – Notepad, Word, Excel.

The process is quite simple. Right-click the BAK file and rename it with a new extension TXT or XLS or XLSX.

The new file with the txt extension can be opened in notepad or Word. NOTE: This action will not convert BAK file to text, it will only open it as a text document.

The XLS or XLSX extension is good because you can open the BAK file in Excel.

As you can see, you cannot convert BAK file to Excel or txt, you can only rename it and open it to see what is inside.

Is it safe to Delete a BAK file?

Files with the .bak extensions are backup files.

They are created automatically when a user makes changes to a file and can be used to revert back to an older version of the file. Deleting the backup file is safe, as long as one knows what it contains.

But if you don’t know what’s inside a file, or you might be unsure of what you’re looking at. In those cases, it’s best to create a temporary folder and transfer the file to it.

FAQ

Can I Open BAK File Online?

While you can find some websites that promise you to convert a BAK file, they will only analyze the file and in most cases, open it in as a text.

Can I Convert BAK File to PDF Online?

The issue with BAK files is that they are not ordinary files stored in your system. They are backup files with important data which cannot be opened with other applications than the one from which they were created.