ARSC Converter

Extract text from ARSC files

Select File
Drop or upload your .ARSC file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your ARSC file

Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your ARSC file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert ARSC to another file type

To convert your ARSC file to another format, you need Android Studio or other Developer software.

Convert a file to ARSC

To convert other file formats to the "App Resource Index" file type, you need software like Android Studio or a similar tool.

About ARSC files

The .ARSC file, most commonly named resources.arsc, serves as the compiled binary index for an Android application's resources. Generated by the Android Asset Packaging Tool (AAPT), it maps integer IDs to specific application assets like strings, styles, layouts, and images within an APK file. Users typically encounter this file when attempting to reverse-engineer, translate, or mod an Android app.

A common frustration with .ARSC files is that they are proprietary binary databases, not human-readable text files. Attempting to open them in editors like Notepad++ yields unintelligible data. Furthermore, modifying this file directly is prone to corruption; if the binary structure (checksums, offsets) does not match the rest of the package, the Android app will crash immediately. Because they are strictly internal to the Android build process, they lack native support in standard operating systems.

To make the data usable, conversion to text-based formats is essential:

For Analysis & Translation: Convert to XML. This reconstructs the original source files (like strings.xml), allowing developers to read and edit the app's text and configuration.
For Documentation: Convert to TXT to generate a flat list of resource ID mappings.
For Rebuilding: After editing the converted XML, the file must be recompiled back to .ARSC using tools like APKTool to function inside an app again.

Convert.Guru analyzes your ARSC file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted DEX, RSA, PROPERTIES, SO, SF, XML, APK, TXT, BIN, UNITY_BUILTIN_EXTRA, MF, UNITY DEFAULT RESOURCES and ZIP files.

FAQ

If you want to convert ARSC file to JS, TS, PY, JAVA, CPP, C, CS, PHP, RB, GO, RS or SWIFT, you can use Android Studio or similar software from the "Android Resource Table" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert SH, PY, KT, PS1, SWIFT, LUA, PL, JAVA, SCALA, JS, VBS or TS files to ARSC, try Android Studio or another comparable tool in the "Android Resource Table" category.

The ARSC 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 ARSC converter.