Extract text from CBH files
To convert your CBH file to another format, you need ChessBase or other Database software.
To convert other file formats to the "Chess Game Database" file type, you need software like ChessBase or a similar tool.
The .CBH file serves as the header index for a ChessBase database, a proprietary format used by ChessBase to store millions of chess games, analyses, and player statistics. It is arguably the most critical component of the database cluster, holding the structural metadata that maps out where specific games are located in the accompanying files (such as CBG for moves and CBA for attributes). However, this file format presents significant friction: a .CBH file cannot be opened in isolation. It relies strictly on the presence of its sibling files to function, and if you attempt to open it without them - or without the paid ChessBase software - you will encounter errors. Furthermore, because it is a binary proprietary format, it is not readable by standard text editors or open-source chess engines like Stockfish.
For universal accessibility, the best course of action is to convert the database content into Portable Game Notation (.PGN). PGN files are plain text, human-readable, and supported by virtually every chess platform, including Lichess and Chess.com. For archiving or printing game scores without the need for a specialized GUI, converting to PDF is the ideal solution. If you need to transfer the entire database to another ChessBase user, compressing the cluster into a single CBV archive file is the standard method to ensure no data is lost during transport.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CBH file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted 2CBH, CBV, PGN, CBG, CBA, INI, PDF, ZIP, TREE and TUR files.
If you want to convert CBH file to PGN, EXE, ISO, BIN, CUE, PAK, WAD, PK3, PK4, BSP, MAP or SAV, you can use ChessBase or similar software from the "Chess Database Indexing" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MOD, BIN, CFG, SCX, DAT, MPQ, LOG, CUE, INI, EXE, SCM or ISO files to CBH, try ChessBase or another comparable tool in the "Chess Database Indexing" 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 CBH converter.