Opening EML Files

The EML file type is primarily associated with Outlook.

EML	File extension: EML
	File type:	electronic mail

What is an EML file?

EML files mostly belong to Outlook by Microsoft. An EML file is an email message saved by email clients such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Gmail, Thunderbird, AppleMail, Notes, or SeaMonkey. This message is saved as ASCII text using the syntax defined in the RFC 822, RFC 733, RFC 2822, or RFC 5322 specification. An EML file contains information about the sender, recipient, subject, timestamp(s), current email account, signed message information, and source/target clients of a single message. It may also contain information about a message's DKIM signature, authentication results, or whether the current message is in reply to an existing mail.

How to open EML files

You need a suitable software like Outlook to open an EML file. Without proper software you will receive a Windows message "How do you want to open this file?" or "Windows cannot open this file" or a similar Mac/iPhone/Android alert. If you cannot open your EML file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a EML file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online EML Text Viewer

Choose your .eml file to view

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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How to extract texts from EML files or capture a screenshot to PDF, JPG, DOCX, TXT, ...

You can extract texts from EML file or capture a preview screenshot using our online EML file viewer:

To do so, click the "Choose your .eml file to view" button above.
After your file is opened in browser,
click "Save as..." in the menu.
Then choose the file format (e.g. JPG, PDF, DOCX, TXT, ...) you want.
Download the converted file.

Programs that open and convert EML files:

Outlook by Microsoft
See the previous paragraphs to learn more about the main application. EML files are often referred to as Outlook simple text files because this type of file is primarily created or used by this software.
7-zip (compressed data) by Igor Pavlov
7-Zip is an archive file manager with compression and encryption support. It can open and unpack a ZIP archive that has been saved as an EML file. This file format is classified as Compressed.
Outlook Express (electronic mail) by Microsoft
Outlook Express is a discontinued email/calendar management and news aggregation software. It saves an email message in an EML file. This file format is classified as Simple text file. Related links: Internet Message Format, FILExt EML Handling FAQ, Email
QuickMail Pro (electronic mail) by CE Software
QuickMail Pro is a discontinued email server application for Windows operating system. It saves an email message in an EML file. This file format is classified as Simple text file. Related links: Internet Message Format, FILExt EML Handling FAQ, Email
Thunderbird (electronic mail) by Mozilla
Thunderbird is an open source email client application compatible with FreeBSD, Linux, Windows, and macOS. It saves an email message as an EML file. This file format is classified as Simple text file. Related links: Internet Message Format, FILExt EML Handling FAQ, Email

EML file format:

The file format determines how the data is stored in the file. The first characters in a file identify the file format, for example, HTML files start with the bytes <html>. However, different programs can use the same file extension, and file extensions can be assigned incorrectly. Exact knowledge of the format is therefore important in order to solve problems occurring in files. Our evaluation of the EML files looks like this:

The EML file extension is very common and is primarily used by a single program. The following file formats are most commonly found in EML files:

80% of all EML files are E-Mail message files. These files are text files and can therefore be read using a text editor. Most of these files are 7 KB to 1 MB in size. This file type is based on cutting-edge technology. Several words can almost always be found in the files, e.g. Received: from, with, Return-Path, com, prod, outlook and SMTP. Files like these are sometimes connected to evrak, attachment, message, mime, unnamed, email, your and postacert.
4% of all EML files are E-Mail message files, which are based on the MIME file format. MIME is short for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. It is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support Unicode and attachments. These files are plain text, which means they can be viewed with any text editor such as Windows Editor, Nano for Linux, and TextEdit for macOS. The average file size is 100 KB with most files being between 770 bytes and 3 MB in size. The keywords MIME-Version: 1.0, Date, Subject, From, gmail and Message-ID are typical for these files. Files like these have the following tags: page, closure and order.

All the rest of the EML files (16%) have different formats, often, for example, ZIP, TNEF, Subject, DKIM, SavedFromEmail and Authentication. They are often associated with mail, attached, statement, request, order or receipt. Just click the "Choose your .eml file to view" button on this page to find out what your EML file is.

Technical Data for EML File Extension

File classification:

Simple text file

Related files:

emi, elm, mime-attachment, mime, eyp, email, emp, ems, noname, blink, at2, mail, txt, check, fwd, msg, untitled, iml, cid, enl, p7s, sig

Mime type:

message/rfc822, application/mbox

The following listing is compiled from the database produced by the 'Associate This!' program, selected data from the main FILExt database and file extension information submitted by users.

ProgramID: Earthlink Internet Mail Message, FileType: EarthLink Mail Message, AppName: Earthlink 5.0 component
EXEFile: BROWSER.EXE

ProgramID: Earthlink Internet Mail Message, FileType: EarthLink Mail Message, AppName: EarthLink TotalAccess MailBox

ProgramID: IncrediMessage, FileType: IncrediMail Internet Mail Message, AppName: IncrediMail Application
EXEFile: IncMail.exe

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message, FileType: Internet E-Mail Message, AppName: Outlook Express
EXEFile: msimn.exe

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message, FileType: Outlook Express Mail Message, AppName: Outlook Express
EXEFile: MSIMN.EXE

ProgramID: The Bat! message file, FileType: Internet E-mail Message, AppName: thebat
EXEFile: thebat.exe

ProgramID: IncrediMessage
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\INCRED~1\bin\IncMail.exe /c %1

ProgramID: IncrediMessage
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\INCRED~3\bin\IncrediMail.exe /c %1

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Outlook Express\msimn.exe

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Outlook Express\msimn.exe /eml:%1

ProgramID: The Bat! message file
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\The Bat!\thebat.exe /nologo /o:%1

ProgramID: Earthlink Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\EarthLink TotalAccess\MailClnt.exe /eml:%1

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe %1

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Outlook Express\msimn.exe

ProgramID: The Bat! message file
EXEFile: C:\_Andrzej\Progr\Bat\thebat.exe /nologo /o:%1

ProgramID: emffile
EXEFile: rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %1

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Outlook Express\msimn.exe /eml:%1

ProgramID: ACDSee6.emf
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ACD Systems\ACDSee\6.0\ACDSee6.exe

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE

ProgramID: Earthlink Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\EARTHLINK 5.0\BROWSER.EXE /eml:%1

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Windows Live Mail Desktop Beta\wlmail.exe /eml:%1

ProgramID: TobitInfoCenterMail
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\TOBITI~1\DVWIN32.EXE /EML

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Windows Mail\WinMail.exe /eml:%1

ProgramID: WordPerfect Mail
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\WordPerfect Mail\Programs\bin\WPMail.exe -M -a%1

ProgramID: MetafileCompanion32.EnhancedMetafile
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\COMMON~1\BRODER~1\ADVANC~1\advdraw.exe

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Windows Live Mail desktop\wlmail.exe /eml:%1

ProgramID: ThunderbirdEML
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Windows Live\Mail\wlmail.exe /eml:%1

ProgramID: ACDSee 9.0.emf
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ACD Systems\ACDSee\9.0\ACDSeeQV.exe

ProgramID: ThunderbirdEML
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\MOZILL~1\THUNDE~1.EXE

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message WLMail
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Windows Live\Mail\wlmail.exe /eml:%1

ProgramID: ThunderbirdEML
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe -osint -mail

ProgramID: Microsoft Internet Mail Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Windows

ProgramID: IncrediMessage
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\IncrediMail\bin\IncMail.exe /c

ProgramID: JS.Internet.Mail.Message
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Justsystem\Shuriken\JsvMail.exe /V:%1

Show all 35 listings To Top

an eml electronic mail is a special file format by Microsoft and should only be edited and saved with the appropriate software.

How to solve problems with EML files

Associate the EML file extension with the correct application.
Update your software that should actually open electronic mails. Because only the current version supports the latest EML file format. Search, therefore, e.g. on the Microsoft manufacturer website after an available Outlook update.
To make sure that your EML file is not corrupted or virus-infected, get the file again and scan it with Google's virustotal.com.
Click here to open your .EML file online - secure, fast, and no downloads needed.