BKF Converter

Extract text from BKF files

Select File
Drop or upload your .BKF file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your BKF file

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

Convert BKF to another file type

To convert your BKF file to another format, you need Windows NT Backup or other Backup software.

BKF to VHD
BKF to BAK
BKF to BACKUP
BKF to OLD
BKF to TMP
BKF to TEMP
BKF to ARC
BKF to ZIP
BKF to TAR
BKF to GZ
BKF to 7Z
BKF to RAR

Convert a file to BKF

To convert other file formats to the "Legacy System Archive" file type, you need software like Windows NT Backup or a similar tool.

SNAPSHOT to BKF
OLD to BKF
IMG to BKF
RESTORE to BKF
ISO to BKF
COPY to BKF
VMDK to BKF
TMP to BKF
VHD to BKF
BAK to BKF
ARCHIVE to BKF
BACKUP to BKF

About BKF files

The .BKF file extension represents a legacy backup archive created by the Windows NT Backup utility (ntbackup.exe), a standard tool included in Windows NT, 2000, XP, and Server 2003. These files utilize the proprietary Microsoft Tape Format (MTF) to store system states, files, and folders.

The Problem: Microsoft discontinued the NT Backup tool starting with Windows Vista, replacing it with the "Backup and Restore" center (which uses VHD or ZIP). Consequently, modern operating systems like Windows 10 and Windows 11 strictly cannot open .BKF files natively. Users attempting to access old archives are often met with compatibility errors because the required system libraries (ntmsapi.dll and vssapi.dll) are missing from modern Windows kernels.

The Solution: To access the data, you must "convert" the .BKF archive by extracting its contents.

For Data Recovery: The best approach is to extract the internal files to a standard folder structure.
For Archiving: Once extracted, re-compressing the data into a standard ZIP or TbZ format is recommended for future-proof compatibility.
Tools: While you can manually patch the old ntbackup.exe with missing DLLs, it is often safer to use dedicated third-party extraction tools from providers like SysTools or Stellar Data Recovery, or use the "Windows NT Backup - Restore Utility" if you are running a virtualized instance of Windows 7.

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

Users also converted BKS, ABA, RBF, BAC and VHD files.

The BKF 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 BKF converter.