Extract text from X-ray data files (CHI)
To convert CHI data files to another format, you need Fit2D or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Scientific Data File" file type, you need software like Fit2D or a similar tool.
A .chi file most commonly contains 1-dimensional (1D) integrated X-ray scattering or powder diffraction data. It is generated by crystallographers after processing raw 2D detector images using software like Fit2D or GSAS-II. Historically, .chi was also the proprietary document extension for ChiWriter, an MS-DOS era scientific word processor. Finally, Windows uses .chi as the index file for Microsoft Compiled HTML Help (.CHM) systems.
The heavy fragmentation of the .chi extension causes daily frustration. Windows defaults to opening all .chi files as Help indexes, triggering error messages when scientists simply try to double-click their diffraction data. Legacy ChiWriter files present an even worse problem: they are an obsolete, proprietary binary format from the 1980s that modern word processors like Microsoft Word completely ignore. Even within X-ray data, the specific plain-text header formatting varies between different analysis suites, frequently breaking automated plotting scripts.
For data analysis, convert your diffraction .chi files to CSV or TXT. This standardizes the formatting, removes proprietary headers, and allows immediate plotting in Excel, Python, or R. For legacy ChiWriter documents, converting to PDF or plain text is your only viable archiving strategy, though complex mathematical formulas will likely be lost. Drop your file here to view and convert it securely right in your browser.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CHI file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted STL, AUX, EFT and XFT files.
If you want to convert CHI file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use Fit2D or similar software from the "X-Ray Diffraction Data Storage" 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 CHI, try Fit2D or another comparable tool in the "X-Ray Diffraction Data 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 CHI converter.