Extract text from Configuration backup files (ATA)
To convert ATA Backups to another format, you need IxNetwork or other Backup software.
To convert other file formats to the "Network Device Settings" file type, you need software like IxNetwork or a similar tool.
The .ata file extension is primarily associated with configuration backups for network testing hardware developed by Ixia (now part of Keysight Technologies). These files act as a snapshot of the device's state, preserving complex network simulation parameters, traffic generation settings, and port configurations. The core problem users face is that .ata files are proprietary binary archives; you cannot simply double-click them to view the settings in a text editor or web browser. This proprietary lock-in forces users to rely on specific, often expensive, hardware or software suites like IxNetwork just to verify a configuration.
Technically, these files are often zlib-compressed data streams. This means they function similarly to a ZIP archive but lack the standard file headers that common operating systems recognize. For quick access without the original hardware, users can sometimes treat the file as a raw archive to extract underlying data (often XML or plain text logs). For documentation or auditing, the best conversion workflow is extracting the contents and converting the readable configuration data to PDF for reporting or CSV for inventory management.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ATA file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted DOCX, POW, VMT, RDT, PSI and ATM files.
If you want to convert ATA file to PSI or ATM, you can use IxNetwork or similar software from the "Network Configuration Backup" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to ATA, try IxNetwork or another comparable tool in the "Network Configuration 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 ATA converter.