Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your CLI file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert CLI to another file type
To convert CLI Layer files to another format, you need Materialise Magics or other Data software.
Convert a file to CLI
To convert other file formats to the "Industrial Plot & Layer Data" file type, you need software like Materialise Magics or a similar tool.
About CLI files
The .cli file format is notoriously fragmented. Primarily, it functions as a Vinyl Cutter Plot File for Creation PCut machines, instructing the hardware exactly where to cut materials. Alternatively, it serves as an Additive Manufacturing Layer Data File under the Common Layer Interface (CLI) standard, storing 3D models as 2D slices for industrial 3D printers like those managed by Materialise Magics. Other obscure uses include Cisco system logs, Nantucket Clipper database files, and even Grand Theft Auto clip data. The main disadvantage of the .cli extension is this extreme ambiguity. Operating systems cannot guess which application to launch. Furthermore, both plotter and industrial 3D printing software can be prohibitively expensive or locked to legacy operating systems. To make these files usable, conversion is mandatory. For vinyl cutting designs, convert .cli to SVG, EPS, or DXF for editing in standard vector software like Adobe Illustrator. For 3D printing workflows, converting to STL or OBJ ensures compatibility with modern desktop slicers.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CLI file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert CLI file to GUI, MP4, API, JS, TS, PY, JAVA, CPP, C, CS, PHP or RB, you can use Materialise Magics or similar software from the "Plot & Layer Data Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SH, PY, KT, PS1, SWIFT, LUA, PL, JAVA, SCALA, JS, VBS or TS files to CLI, try Materialise Magics or another comparable tool in the "Plot & Layer Data Storage" category.
The CLI 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 CLI converter.