Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your ACA file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert ACA to another file type
To convert ACA files to another format, you need Microsoft Agent or other System software.
Convert a file to ACA
To convert other file formats to the "Legacy Animation & Data" file type, you need software like Microsoft Agent or a similar tool.
About ACA files
The .ACA extension represents a collision of three legacy formats, each requiring specific conversion workflows to access their contents on modern systems.
1. Microsoft Agent Character Animation (Most Common)
Historically, these files contained individual animations for Microsoft Agent characters (like Peedy, Merlin, or the infamous BonziBuddy). Unlike the main ACS character file, .ACA files were designed as lightweight, cacheable HTTP downloads that stored specific actions (e.g., "Wave," "Read," "Congratulate").
The Problem: The Microsoft Agent ActiveX control was discontinued in Windows 7. Trying to open these files today results in "Class Not Registered" errors. They are proprietary binary containers that modern video players cannot read.
The Solution:
For Web/Content: Convert .ACA to Animated GIF or APNG to preserve the motion.
For Editing: Convert to PNG sprite sheets to use the assets in modern game engines like Unity or Godot.
2. Project64 Cheat Database
In legacy versions of the Project64 Nintendo 64 emulator, .ACA files were sometimes used to store cheat code libraries. While modern versions use CHT files, you may encounter these in old ROM archives.
The Solution: These are often simple text or structured binary files. Convert or rename them to TXT to view the codes, or manually import the data into a modern CHT file.
3. HD DVD Advanced Content Archive
A relic of the format wars, this .ACA file is a container used by HD DVD discs to store interactive menus and JavaScript. It is essentially a renamed archive.
The Solution: Rename the extension from .ACA to ZIP or TAR to extract and view the internal XML, PNG, and JS assets.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ACA file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert ACA file to CPA, FCA, MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV, FLV, WEBM, MKV, M4V, 3GP or OGV, you can use Microsoft Agent or similar software from the "Legacy Character Animation" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MTS, MOV, RMVB, DIVX, RM, H264, TS, WMV, VOB, MP4, XVID or AVI files to ACA, try Microsoft Agent or another comparable tool in the "Legacy Character Animation" category.
The ACA 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 ACA converter.