Opening a WHL File

The WHL file type is primarily associated with Python.

WHL	File extension: WHL
	File type:	installation package

What is a WHL file?

WHL files mostly belong to Python by Python Software Foundation. WHL (wheel) is the file extension associated with a Python installation package. The WHL format has been created to replace the older EGG format and it is now the default Python format for build and binary distributions. It aims at making installation faster and easier by simplifying the interface between the build system and the installer. Unlike EGG, which is a format for both distribution and runtime installation, WHL is just a distribution (in other words, packaging) format.

• File Format: The WHL format is defined by PEP 427. WHL files are ZIP archive files. They can be opened like ZIP archives if the extension is renamed. The file includes an extended RECORD that allows it to be digitally signed. The file naming convention for WHL files is richer than that for EGG files, and can store information about compatibility with Python implementations, ABIs, and system architectures. WHL files also contain version information. This includes the version of the wheel specification and of the implementation that packaged the file. A WHL archive does not include .PYC files, so it can be 'universal' like sdist.

How to open WHL files

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

Online WHL File Viewer

Choose your .whl file to view

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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

1. To do this, click the button "Choose your .whl file to view" on this page.
2. After your file is opened in browser,
3. click "Save as..." in the menu.
4. Then choose the file format (e.g. JPG, PDF, DOCX, TXT, ...) you want.
5. Your file will be converted and downloaded.

WHL file extension format:

To view or edit WHL files you need to know the file format, because it determines how the data in this file is stored. 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 WHL files looks like this:

WHL is a very widely used file extension. The file type predominantly uses a uniform format. However, the following two file formats are common:

• 97% of all WHL files are based on the zip format, multiple files are compressed and combined into one WHL file. A WHL file contains 6 to 210 files, the average being 31. If you want to see the included files and images, simply rename the file extension to .zip and double-click it. The files are often between 6 KB and 10 MB in size. Certain words are almost always found in the files, such as __init__. Such files are related to none, macosx, python, manylinux, pyaudio, pygame, tensorflow, numpy and pyqt.
• 1% of all WHL files start with the bytes ProgramName=MiniProf, which are crucial for this file format. If you open these files in a text editor, you can view and read the content yourself. The files are 17 KB to 31 KB in size, with a median of 29 KB. The files contain the following words: Date, MiniProf, ProgramName and Time.

All the rest of the WHL files (2%) have different formats. Files like these are sometimes linked to opencv, pypy, pillow, intel, matplotlib or linux. Just click the "Choose your .whl file to view" button on this page to find out what your WHL file is.