Opening META Files

The META file type is primarily associated with Unity.

META	File extension: META
	File type:	asset metadata

What is a META file?

META files mostly belong to Unity by Unity. META filename extension is associated with video metadata files generated by RealPlayer, a cross-platform multimedia player. RealPlayer generates a META file for each video downloaded from the Internet. The META file describes the contents of the video but doesn't contain any video content. META filename extension is also associated with the asset metadata format used by Unity, a cross-platform game engine for developing and rendering video games. Unity creates a META file for each asset or folder created within the /Assets/ folder. This META file contains the ID assigned to each asset by Unity which also uses the META file to create references to each asset. XGS game engine by Exient also saves video game (of games such as Angry Birds) metadata such as item logs and crash logs in META files. HTTP-Server, a web server software developed by Apache saves HTTP server metadata in META files.

How to open META files

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

Online META Text Viewer

Choose your .meta file to analyze

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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Programs that open and convert META files:

Unity by Unity
See the previous paragraphs to learn more about the main application. META files are often referred to as Unity games because this type of file is primarily created or used by this software.
Black & White (creature mind metadata) by EA
Black & White was a computer video game where the player takes on the role of a god of several islands. META files used by Black & White contained a creature's mind's metadata. Such files were usually paired with SAV files for the same creature. This file format is classified as Game. Related links: Wikipedia Black & White Game Page
RealPlayer (video metadata) by RealNetworks
RealPlayer is a cross-platform media player with native playback and streaming capabilities. It automatically generates a META file for each video downloaded from the Internet. This file format is classified as Video.

META file format:

If you can determine the file format, the associated program can also be determined. The first characters in a file identify the file format, for example, HTML files start with the bytes <html>. Nonetheless, different programs can utilize the same file extension to represent distinct file formats. Double-clicking on the file often results in an error when opening. Knowledge is power - this also applies when dealing with unknown or faulty files. Our evaluation of the META files looks like this:

The META file extension is very common and includes various formats for various programs. The following file formats are most commonly found in META files:

35% of all META files are Unity asset Meta data files. 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 files are often between 150 bytes and 2 KB in size. The file type was developed only in the last few years. Several words can almost always be found in the files, e.g. fileFormatVersion: 2, guid, externalObjects: {}, userData, assetBundleName, assetBundleVariant, licenseType, timeCreated and DefaultImporter. These files are attributed to asset, anim, player, bytes, unity, animation, assets and button.
10% of all META files are using the well-known XML file format to store the data. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a simple text-based format for representing structured information: documents, webpages, data, configuration, books, transactions, invoices, and much more. XML defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. The contents of these files are easily readable with a text editor. META files are between 160 bytes and 54 KB in size. The files contain the following words: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>, <Item> and type. An example of a file name is vehicles.meta or handling.meta. Files like these have the following tags: carcols, carvariations, extratitleupdatedata, weapons, cmipc, cmipm and pipe.

All the rest of the META files (55%) have different formats, the following 14 formats can be found: JSON, SQL, plist, RECRJMD, MetaFileClass, Graphics, timezone, Spacecraft and AWGMSUN. The category is model, ckpt, edds, data, telegram or partial. If you want to find out which format your META file belongs to, just click on the button "Choose your .meta file to analyze".

Technical Data for META File Extension

File classification:

Game

Related files:

vng_meta, paz, asset, anim, index, meta-journal, data-00000-of-00001, prefab, edds, data_batch_1, assets, zip, metaecfsfile, png, xml, json, yft, meta4, cache_policy_journal, mctable, ress, unity3d

Mime type:

text/plain, text/x-yaml

a meta asset metadata is a special file format by Unity and should only be edited and saved with the appropriate software.

How to solve problems with META files

Associate the META file extension with the correct application.
Update your software that should actually open asset metadata files. Because only the current version supports the latest META file format. Search, therefore, e.g. on the Unity manufacturer website after an available Unity update.
To make sure that your META file is not corrupted or virus-infected, get the file again and scan it with Google's virustotal.com.
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