Opening a TL File

The TL file type is primarily associated with Timeglider.

TL	File extension: TL
	File type:	data file

What is a TL file

TL files mostly belong to Timeglider.

Your TL file may belong to one of two main groups. It can be a timeline file or a thermal printer label file.

• Timeline Files:
  These files store time‐based event data. Some are packaged in a ZIP format. They are used by timeline software such as Timeglider from Timeline Studio. In many cases the file holds interactive timeline information that displays historical events or audio track placements. A related use is in audio editing where the file functions as a project timeline in systems like Pro Tools (similar to Tracktion Edit project files). For more details, visit the TimelineJS webpage or the Pro Tools webpage.
• Thermal Printer Label Files:
  Some TL files use an XML structure to store layout details for thermal printer labels. These are used in printing systems like BarTender and can include design data for label printing. More information is available on the BarTender webpage.

How to Open and View:
To open a timeline file, use the specific timeline editing software (for example, Timeglider or Pro Tools). For thermal printer label files, a label design program such as BarTender is needed. If the file appears to be text or XML-based, a text editor or an archive extractor (after renaming to .zip) may reveal its structure.
FilExt.com advanced tip: Few users know that some timeline TL files are actually compressed archives. Renaming the extension to .zip can allow you to extract internal files for further inspection.

How can I open a TL file?

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

Online TL Text Viewer

Choose your .tl file to analyze

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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TL file format:

Why is it important to know the file format? This is the only way to find out which program to use to open the file. Often, the file format can be deduced from the file extension or the initial bytes (called the signature). If the file extension or signature does not match the file format, errors will occur when opening or editing the file. If there are problems opening a file, you must first determine the file format used. Our evaluation of the TL files is as follows:

TL is not that commonly used as a file extension. This file type covers different formats for different programs. But the following two file formats are common:

• 30% of all TL files are based on the zip format, multiple files are compressed and combined into one TL file. A TL file contains 5 to 52 files, the average being 22. Common included file names are manifest.json, signature and \data\timeline. Tip: If you rename the file ending to .zip and then double-click it, you see the included files and images. The average file size is 1 MB with most files being between 670 KB and 11 MB in size. Certain words are almost always found in the files, such as data/PK and manifest.jsonm. The following filename is common: United_States_USA.tl or History_Periods.tl. Files like these have the following tags: states, united, history, periods, cold and universe.
• 9% of all TL files use the same file format, which have the signature PJNM(". The contents of these files are easily readable with a text editor. The average file size is 590 bytes with most files being between 74 bytes and 1 KB in size. The files contain the following words: PJNM, PUSQ(0), SNTY("WAV"), TKSQ(0), SASI(3), FRRT(0), TKLS{, TKIN(0), SMRT(1), FILE{, TKDS{, TKNM("Track0.txt"), TRAK{, VLTY("FAT-32") and VLNM.

All other TL files (61%) have no consistent format, the following 7 formats can be found: XML and GZIP. Files like these are sometimes linked to telem, current, standars or template. You can get all the details of your TL file by dragging it onto this page or by clicking the button "Choose your .tl file to analyze" above.