Extract text from data and document files (CDF)
To convert CDF data files to another format, you need NASA CDF Toolkit or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Scientific & Document Data File" file type, you need software like NASA CDF Toolkit or a similar tool.
The .CDF file extension primarily represents two very different, highly specialized formats: the Common Data Format developed by NASA and the Computable Document Format created by Wolfram Research. NASA CDFs store scalar and multidimensional data arrays used in space physics and atmospheric science. Wolfram CDFs are interactive documents, essentially executable notebooks generated by Mathematica to showcase data models. Less commonly, the extension is used for Indian ABT electricity meter data and legacy Microsoft Windows diagnostic captures.
Both primary formats share a major disadvantage: they are notoriously difficult to use outside their native ecosystems. NASA CDF files are complex binary or encoded text files that cannot be opened by standard desktop tools; they require specialized C/Fortran libraries, MATLAB, or IDL. Wolfram CDF files lock your interactive charts and mathematical models behind the heavy, proprietary Wolfram Player. Neither format is natively supported by modern web browsers, making quick data sharing with non-technical users extremely frustrating.
To make this data accessible, conversion is mandatory. For NASA scientific data, convert .CDF to CSV, JSON, or TXT to import the raw variables into Microsoft Excel or Python dataframes. For Wolfram documents, convert them to PDF for standard sharing, archiving, and printing. Note that exporting a Wolfram CDF to PDF or an image format like JPG will freeze all dynamic calculations and interactive sliders into static graphics.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CDF file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted CDR, CDF-MS, CDW, PDF, ZIP, CFD, NC, URDU PREP PAR-1, DOC, CSV, CDF2, MDL LOGO CDF and TXT files.
If you want to convert CDF file to PDF, ZAR, CSV, PMF, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG or CONF, you can use NASA CDF Toolkit or similar software from the "Scientific Data & Interactive Documents" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to CDF, try NASA CDF Toolkit or another comparable tool in the "Scientific Data & Interactive Documents" 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 CDF converter.