Extract text from COOKIE files
To convert your COOKIE file to another format, you need Internet Explorer or other Web software.
To convert other file formats to the "Session Data File" file type, you need software like Internet Explorer or a similar tool.
A .cookie file is primarily a legacy artifact associated with older web browsers, specifically earlier versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer. These files store session identifiers, user preferences, and authentication tokens in a simple plain text format. A secondary, more technical variation exists within the Python ecosystem, where developers save serialized 'cookie jars' (often using the pickle module) to persist session state between script executions.
The main drawback with .cookie files is their total obsolescence in the modern web landscape. Current browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox manage cookies using robust, encrypted SQLite databases or JSON stores, making them incompatible with old IE-style text files. Users often find themselves stuck with these files when migrating data from old backups or attempting to debug legacy systems, discovering that simply double-clicking them opens a confusing text stream rather than importing the data. Furthermore, Python-generated cookie files are often binary, meaning opening them in a text editor displays unintelligible garbage characters.
To make this data usable, conversion is usually required. For developers debugging APIs or migrating sessions, converting to JSON provides a structured, human-readable format. If you need to use the cookies with command-line tools like curl or wget, the target format must be the Netscape HTTP Cookie File standard (TXT). Converting to CSV can also be helpful for auditing large lists of stored tracking data.
Convert.Guru analyzes your COOKIE file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted TXT, COOKIES, JSON, ZIP, TMP, HTA, PARTIAL, TOKEN, JWT and HEADER files.
If you want to convert COOKIE file to JSON, TOKEN, JWT or HEADER, you can use Internet Explorer or similar software from the "Legacy Browser Session Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to COOKIE, try Internet Explorer or another comparable tool in the "Legacy Browser Session 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 COOKIE converter.