Extract text from ARFF files
To convert your ARFF file to another format, you need Weka or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Machine Learning Dataset" file type, you need software like Weka or a similar tool.
The .ARFF (Attribute-Relation File Format) is an ASCII text file designed to describe a list of instances sharing a set of attributes. It was developed by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Waikato specifically for use with the Weka machine learning software suite. Structurally, the file consists of two distinct sections: a Header (defining @RELATION and @ATTRIBUTE types) and a Data section (listing instances following the @DATA tag).
While .ARFF files are human-readable, their specialized header structure makes them incompatible with standard spreadsheet software and modern data pipelines out of the box. Users often struggle to open them directly in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, as the metadata tags confuse standard CSV parsers. Furthermore, integrating ARFF data into Python-based workflows (like TensorFlow or PyTorch) often requires specific libraries (e.g., scipy.io.arff) rather than standard file readers.
To overcome these compatibility hurdles, converting .ARFF is the most practical solution. For data analysis and spreadsheet viewing, converting to CSV or XLSX ensures immediate accessibility. For web applications or NoSQL database integration, converting to JSON is ideal.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ARFF file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted ZIP, DATASET_, CSV, TXT, XLSX, ARFF 2, DATASET, DATA, RAR, PDF, TSX, MAT and XLS files.
If you want to convert ARFF file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use Weka or similar software from the "Machine Learning Datasets" 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 ARFF, try Weka or another comparable tool in the "Machine Learning Datasets" 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 ARFF converter.