Extract text from Enhanced Android backups (ABEX)
To convert ABEX backups to another format, you need Droid Explorer or other Backup software.
To convert other file formats to the "Enhanced Android Backup" file type, you need software like Droid Explorer or a similar tool.
An .abex file is an Enhanced Android Backup created by Camalot Droid Explorer, a legacy Windows application used for managing rooted Android devices. These files store application data, system settings, and user files captured directly from a connected smartphone.
Historically, users relied on Droid Explorer or Camalot Android Backup Extractor to create and restore these archives. The core disadvantage of the .abex format is its proprietary restriction: it embeds a unique text header containing the original phone's specific Device ID. This design actively prevents you from restoring the backup onto any other device, locking your data to the old hardware.
Because of this frustrating limitation, you will usually need to convert an .abex file into a standard AB (Android ADB Backup) file, or extract its contents entirely into a TAR or ZIP archive. By stripping out the proprietary device lock, you regain the ability to access your data on a modern PC or migrate it to a new phone.
Converting an .abex file is notoriously difficult because standard archive tools like 7-Zip crash when they hit the custom text header prepended to the binary data. Only the original software natively understands this hybrid structure.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ABEX file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert ABEX file to BAK, BACKUP, OLD, TMP, TEMP, ARC, ZIP, TAR, GZ, 7Z, RAR or ISO, you can use Droid Explorer or similar software from the "Android Device Backup" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SNAPSHOT, OLD, IMG, RESTORE, ISO, COPY, VMDK, TMP, VHD, BAK, ARCHIVE or BACKUP files to ABEX, try Droid Explorer or another comparable tool in the "Android Device Backup" 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 ABEX converter.