Extract text from AB1 files
To convert your AB1 file to another format, you need Applied Biosystems Sequencing Analysis or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Bioinformatics Data" file type, you need software like Applied Biosystems Sequencing Analysis or a similar tool.
An .AB1 file is a binary data format generated by Applied Biosystems (now Thermo Fisher Scientific) DNA sequencers. These files serve as the primary output for Sanger sequencing, encapsulating the raw chromatogram (electropherogram) traces, base calls (A, C, G, T), and quality scores for each nucleotide.
Because .AB1 files are a proprietary binary format, they cannot be opened by standard text editors like Notepad or image viewers. Accessing the critical genetic data requires specialized bioinformatics tools such as SnapGene Viewer or Chromas, which is a common source of difficulty for researchers trying to quickly share results or include visual data in presentations. Furthermore, raw binary files are not suitable for alignment algorithms or publication figures without processing.
To overcome these limitations, users should convert .AB1 files based on their specific needs. For sequence alignment and downstream analysis, convert to FASTA, FASTQ, or TXT to strip away the binary metadata and retain only the nucleotide sequence and quality scores. For lab notebooks, publications, or visual inspection of peak quality, convert the chromatogram view to PDF or PNG.
Convert.Guru analyzes your AB1 file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted ABI, AB, FSTA, SEQ, FASTA, ZIP, FAS, SCF, PDF, TXT, RAR, GB and DOCX files.
If you want to convert AB1 file to FASTA, PDF, CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF or DAT, you can use Applied Biosystems Sequencing Analysis or similar software from the "DNA Sequencing Chromatogram" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to AB1, try Applied Biosystems Sequencing Analysis or another comparable tool in the "DNA Sequencing Chromatogram" category.
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 AB1 converter.