3A Converter

Extract text from 3000AD saves and PBX dumps (3A)

Select File
Drop or upload your .3A file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your 3A file

Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your 3A file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert 3A to another file type

To convert 3A Saves and dumps to another format, you need Battlecruiser 3000AD or other Game software.

Convert a file to 3A

To convert other file formats to the "Saved Game Archive" file type, you need software like Battlecruiser 3000AD or a similar tool.

About 3A files

The .3a file extension primarily represents two distinct, highly technical formats that serve different industries.

1. 3000AD Saved Game File

Most commonly, a .3a file is a saved game state created by titles from 3000AD, Inc., such as the Battlecruiser series. These files store your in-game progress, ship configurations, and universe state.

The Friction:

Proprietary Lock-in: The file is a binary blob specific to the game engine. You cannot open it in Microsoft Word or standard text editors.
Compression: Internally, these files are often standard GZIP archives renamed with a unique extension. Users trying to edit save data often fail because they don't realize they must decompress the file first.

Conversion Solution:
Since the internal structure is GZIP, the most practical "conversion" is to rename the extension from .3a to gz and extract it using 7-Zip or WinRAR. This reveals the raw data (often binary or text) which can then be edited or backed up.

2. Asterisk PBX Core Dump

In enterprise telecommunications, a .3a file is often a Core Dump generated by Grandstream UCM devices (running the Asterisk PBX system). These files are created when a process crashes, dumping the system's memory (RAM) state into a file for debugging.

The Friction:

Massive Size: These files can be hundreds of megabytes, consuming critical storage on your PBX appliance.
Not Human Readable: They are ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) binaries. Opening them in a text editor displays garbled characters.

Conversion Solution:
There is no functional way to convert a core dump to a "usable" format like PDF or JPG.

For Analysis: Convert/View the content using a debugger like GDB on a Linux system.
For Storage: Convert to ZIP or 7Z to drastically reduce the file size for archiving or sending to support teams.

Convert.Guru analyzes your 3A file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted NCM, MARKER, DEAD, BITMAP and 3 files.

FAQ

If you want to convert 3A file to 3, you can use Battlecruiser 3000AD or similar software from the "Saved Game / System Dump" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert files to 3A, try Battlecruiser 3000AD or another comparable tool in the "Saved Game / System Dump" category.

The 3A Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our 3A converter.