Opening a CHAR File

The CHAR file type is primarily associated with Game editor.

CHAR	File extension: CHAR
	File type:	game character data file

What is a CHAR file?

CHAR files mostly belong to Game editor. CHAR Files store game character data that many games use to track character properties, progress, and configurations.
They come in several internal formats. Some CHAR files use a .NET-style or binary layout, while others are in JSON text form. In many cases, these files save parameters such as stats, moves, and visual settings. In a few cases, they are used as save files or even to define an ASCII art character set, as seen with PICO-8 font definitions.
Usage examples include:

Game Character Data: Files that hold in-game character profiles and settings.

Neural Network Data: Files that may store character learning parameters.

Font/ASCII Art Data: Files used on platforms like PICO-8 to define character sets.

If you have a CHAR file and it is in a text-based format (like JSON or ASCII), you can open it with a basic text editor. For binary or .NET‐style files, a hex editor or the game’s own tool may be required to view and edit the data properly.
FilExt.com note: For more detailed insights into character data files, you may refer to community resources such as the Dark Souls 3 Wiki or the PICO-8 page.

How to open CHAR files

You need a suitable software like Game editor to open a CHAR 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 CHAR file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a CHAR file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online CHAR Text Viewer

Choose your .char file to analyze

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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CHAR file extension format:

A file format defines how the data in the file is structured. Often, the file format can be deduced from the file extension or the initial bytes (called the signature). However, different programs can use the same file extension. Furthermore, a file extension can be renamed incorrectly and double-clicking on it will then display an error when it is opened. Exact knowledge of the format is therefore important in order to solve problems occurring in files. Our evaluation of the CHAR files looks like this:

The CHAR file type includes different formats for different programs. The two most popular formats are as follows:

• 50% of all CHAR files are using the well-known .NET file format to store the data. The .NET format is used to save Microsoft .NET Framework objects to a file (ex. save game state as file) via object serialization. Such a .NET object may contain functions and data like settings, images or videos. If you open these files in a text editor, you can view and read the content yourself. The files are often between 2 KB and 22 KB in size. The file type is very recent. The following keywords are characteristic: ZmFsc. Examples of file names are bapbap.char.
• 9% of all CHAR files start with the bytes F9 53 8B 83 1F 36 32 43 BA AE 0D 17 86 5D 08 54, which are crucial for this file format. They consist of illegible, cryptic characters. The files are on average 14 KB in size and range from 7 KB to 18 KB. Examples of file names are Lana.char. Files like these have the following tags: person-related data.

All the rest of the CHAR files (41%) have different formats, frequently e.g. JSON, Source and BINd. Often described as icon, character or sheet. If you want to find out what your CHAR file contains, drag and drop it onto this page.