Extract text from Accessibility Wizard files (ACW)
To convert ACW Accessibility files to another format, you need Windows Accessibility Wizard or other Settings software.
To convert other file formats to the "Windows Legacy Configuration" file type, you need software like Windows Accessibility Wizard or a similar tool.
The .ACW file is a legacy configuration file created by the Windows Accessibility Wizard (accwiz.exe). Older operating systems like Windows 98, 2000, and XP used these files to save customized user settings for physical and visual accessibility tools, such as the magnifier, high contrast themes, and sticky keys.
The main disadvantage of the .ACW format is that it is entirely obsolete. Modern operating systems, including Windows 10, Windows 11, macOS, and Linux, do not support this format natively. It relies on deprecated system APIs. Furthermore, it is not a standard document or media file, making it useless for typical daily tasks.
Because this is a system configuration file, you cannot normally convert it into a standard image or document. The most practical conversion target is TXT, which allows you to extract and read any raw, unencrypted settings data. Standard online converters fail to process .ACW files because they expect common media or document structures, not proprietary legacy settings.
This format is difficult to open because it relies on software that Microsoft abandoned decades ago.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ACW file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted AZW, REF, BCD and XLB files.
If you want to convert ACW file to INI, CFG, CONF, CONFIG, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, ENV, PROPERTIES or RC, you can use Windows Accessibility Wizard or similar software from the "Accessibility Settings Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert ZSHRC, CONF, RCFILE, GITCONFIG, RC, PLIST, BASHRC, CONFIG, PROFILE, INI, PREFS or CFG files to ACW, try Windows Accessibility Wizard or another comparable tool in the "Accessibility Settings Storage" 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 ACW converter.