Extract text from fax bitmaps (CCITT)
To convert CCITT bitmaps to another format, you need ImageMagick or other Raster Image software.
To convert other file formats to the "Fax Compressed Bitmap" file type, you need software like ImageMagick or a similar tool.
A .ccitt file is a 1-bit (black and white) raster image compressed using standards developed by the ITU-T (formerly CCITT). These files were historically used to store and transmit scanned documents via fax machines, specifically utilizing Group 3 (G3) or Group 4 (G4) compression algorithms.
You can open these files using specialized image viewers like IrfanView or command-line processors like ImageMagick. You can learn more about this compression standard on its Wikipedia page.
Users need to convert .ccitt files because they are effectively obsolete as standalone files. Modern web browsers, operating systems, and basic image viewers do not support them. The format is strictly limited to monochrome data. Because it is often saved as a raw data stream, it frequently lacks the necessary file headers to define image dimensions (width and height), causing rendering software to crash or display garbage data.
The best target formats for conversion are TIFF, PNG, and PDF. Converting to TIFF or PNG preserves the lossless 1-bit nature of the image perfectly. PDF is ideal if the file is a scanned text document intended for archiving.
This file format is difficult to open or convert because it is often just a raw data stream extracted from a larger container (like a TIFF or PDF) without its structural metadata. Often only the original software or specialized legacy decoders can properly read or export the data. Just drag and drop your file into convert.guru to see what it is and convert it if supported. convert.guru can still identify the file format, inspect the file, and show text or internal content. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CCITT file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert CCITT file to , you can use ImageMagick or similar software from the "Fax Image Compression Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to CCITT, try ImageMagick or another comparable tool in the "Fax Image Compression Storage" 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 CCITT converter.