Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your CK3 file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert CK3 to another file type
To convert CK3 saves to another format, you need Crusader Kings III or other Game software.
Convert a file to CK3
To convert other file formats to the "Saved Game File" file type, you need software like Crusader Kings III or a similar tool.
About CK3 files
A .CK3 file stores the saved game state for Crusader Kings III, a grand strategy role-playing game developed by Paradox Development Studio. It records the current world map, character traits, dynasty histories, and campaign progress. The primary software to open these files is the game itself. However, advanced players often use Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code to edit the extracted contents. The default .CK3 format is proprietary and often saved as a compressed archive to save disk space. This means you cannot open it directly in a text editor. Furthermore, Ironman mode saves are encrypted to prevent cheating, making them impossible to edit or convert directly. Players need to modify save files to fix bugs, test mods, or change world parameters, but the compressed nature makes this tedious. The best targets are ZIP (for extraction) and TXT (for editing the raw game state). Extracting the archive reveals the gamestate file, which is plain text. Because this is a closed, proprietary game format, standard document converters fail to process it. If our analysis detects the embedded archive, you can view the internal structure and extract the text.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CK3 file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert CK3 file to EU4, CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT or DB, you can use Crusader Kings III or similar software from the "Game State 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 CK3, try Crusader Kings III or another comparable tool in the "Game State Storage" category.
The CK3 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 CK3 converter.