Opening a PGN File
The PGN file type is primarily associated with Chess.
What is a PGN file?
How to open a PGN file
You need a suitable software like Chess to open a PGN 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 PGN file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a PGN file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.
Online PGN Text Viewer
Read our privacy guarantee in Filext’s terms and privacy policy
Please allow ads on our site
This helps us keep our servers running. Then re-upload your file to view it.Click here to see how to disable the ad blocker for filext.com
How to extract texts from PGN files or capture a screenshot to PDF, JPG, DOCX, TXT, ...
You can extract texts from PGN file or capture a preview screenshot using our online PGN file viewer:- Just click the "Choose your .pgn file to view" button on this page.
- 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.
- Your file will be converted and downloaded.
Programs that open and convert PGN files:
- Chess by Apple
See the previous paragraphs to learn more about the main application. PGN files are often referred to as Chess games because this type of file is primarily created or used by this software.
- ChessBase Reader (chess match) by ChessBaseChessBase Reader is a desktop application for viewing chess matches saved in various formats such as CBH, CBF, and PGN This file format is classified as Game.
- Picatinny Arsenal Electronic FormstoreA PGN is a form saved in TIFF format using Picatinny Arsenal Electronic Formstore. This file format is classified as Raster Image.
PGN file format:
To find out what program is needed to open PGN files, you need to determine the file format. Each file format has a unique extension and almost always a unique signature. For example, Microsoft Word documents have the extension .docx and the signature (usually the first 3 characters in this file) PK. 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. So you need a detailed analysis of a file to find out the format and the associated program. Below you will find our evaluation of the PGN files:
The PGN extension is quite commonly used. The file itself is primarily used by a single program. The two most common formats are as follows:
- 80% of all PGN files are Portable Gaming Notation files. The contents of these files can even be read by a human. The files are often between 440 bytes and 39 KB in size. The file type is old but is used even today. The files contain the following words: Black, White, Date, [Round "?"], [Site "Chess.com"], WhiteElo, [Event "Live, [Result "1-0"], BlackElo, TimeControl and [Result "0-1"]. These files are often associated with music, lichess, guest, chess, games, anonymous, data, game and study.
- 8% of all PGN files are using the well-known UTF-8 file format to store the data. UTF-8 is the World Wide Web's most common character encoding for Unicode. UTF-8 files can be viewed with any text editor. These files start with the 3 bytes  (hex: EF BB BF), the so called byte order mark (BOM). These files are text files, so they contain words and text. A typical file size is 2 KB. Certain words are almost always found in the files, such as Date, Event, Black, White, Annotator, ECO, [Round "?"], [Site "?"], PlyCount, [Result "*"] and [Result "1-0"]. A usual file name is e4NYStyle.pgn. Such PGN files store data about play.
All other PGN files (12%) have no consistent format, frequently e.g. config. They are often associated with computer, master, tournament, atakzodsl, predathor, stockfish, kasparov, carlsen or level. Just click the "Choose your .pgn file to view" button on this page to find out what your PGN file is.
Technical Data for PGN File Extension
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.
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\WinBoard\WinBoard.exe -ini %ProgramFiles%\WinBoard\WinBoard.ini -ncp -lgf
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ChessBase\CBReader\CBReader.exe
a pgn chess match is a special file format by Apple and should only be edited and saved with the appropriate software.
How to solve problems with PGN files
- Associate the PGN file extension with the correct application.
- Update your software that should actually open chess matches. Because only the current version supports the latest PGN file format. Search, therefore, e.g. on the Apple manufacturer website after an available Chess update.
- To make sure that your PGN file is not corrupted or virus-infected, get the file again and scan it with Google's virustotal.com.
- Click here to open your .PGN file online - secure, fast, and no downloads needed.