BAD Converter

Extract text from BAD files

Select File
Drop or upload your .BAD file

Online File Converter

✈

How to extract text from your BAD file

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

Convert BAD to another file type

To convert your BAD file to another format, you need Microsoft Exchange Server or other System software.

Convert a file to BAD

To convert other file formats to the "Error Log & Quarantine" file type, you need software like Microsoft Exchange Server or a similar tool.

About BAD files

The .BAD extension is a generic label used by various systems to mark files as 'invalid,' 'undeliverable,' or 'dangerous,' rather than a single standardized format. The most common use case (approx. 28%) is by Microsoft Exchange Server for Badmail - emails that can neither be delivered to the recipient nor returned to the sender. These files are essentially plain text logs containing the message header and error details, yet they fail to open in standard editors because Windows does not associate the extension with Notepad.

Beyond email logs, the extension is frequently used as a 'quarantine wrapper' by security software and email gateways to neutralize potential threats (renaming EXE or ZIP files to .BAD to prevent execution). Additionally, data recovery tools and devices like Olympus cameras or iTunes may append this extension to corrupted segments of SQL databases or JPG images.

Common Friction Points:

Unopenable: Double-clicking usually results in a 'Windows cannot open this file' error.
Ambiguity: You generally don't know if the file is a harmless text log or a dangerous virus until you inspect the internal headers.
Corruption: If generated by recovery software, the file may be incomplete or missing critical headers.

Best Conversion Targets:

For Analysis (Exchange): Convert to TXT or PDF to read the delivery failure report comfortably.
For Recovery: If the file is a quarantined archive, converting (renaming) back to ZIP or RAR may restore access - though caution is advised.
For Forensics: Convert to HEX or use an online viewer to inspect the file signature to determine its true origin.

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

Users also converted TXT, XNK, EDB and DAT files.

FAQ

If you want to convert BAD file to TXT, RTF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, PAGES, TEX, LATEX, MD, MARKDOWN, LOG or NFO, you can use Microsoft Exchange Server or similar software from the "Undeliverable Email Log" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert PDF, DOC, ASC, TODO, NFO, MEMO, README, DOCX, JPG, TXT, NOTE or RTF files to BAD, try Microsoft Exchange Server or another comparable tool in the "Undeliverable Email Log" category.

The BAD 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 BAD converter.