Extract text from Dictionary bundles (DICTIONARY)
To convert DICTIONARY Dictionaries to another format, you need Apple Dictionary or other Database software.
To convert other file formats to the "Dictionary & Reference Data" file type, you need software like Apple Dictionary or a similar tool.
The .dictionary file extension is primarily associated with proprietary Apple Dictionary packages and legacy Qubic game move dictionaries. The Apple Dictionary format is a compiled macOS package bundle used by the native dictionary application to store word definitions, pronunciations, and localized lexical data. The Qubic format, created by computer scientist Oren Patashnik, stores pre-computed moves for a 3D 4x4x4 tic-tac-toe game.
These formats present massive interoperability challenges for users. The Apple .dictionary file is not actually a single file, but a macOS directory masquerading as a file. It contains proprietary compiled binary data generated from XML source files. Because of this, it is completely inaccessible to Windows or Linux users and cannot be opened natively outside of the macOS ecosystem. Furthermore, it locks your lexical data into a closed system. The Qubic format is an obscure, undocumented legacy binary structure with no modern software support.
Users typically want to convert Apple .dictionary files to open standard formats like XML, JSON, or TXT. Converting allows developers and linguists to utilize the lexical databases in cross-platform applications, web tools, or alternative dictionary readers like GoldenDict. However, this conversion requires decompiling the binary package, which often results in lost formatting, missing multimedia, or corrupted structural tags.
Standard online converters universally fail with these files because they cannot process macOS directory bundles or proprietary compiled binaries. Often, only specialized developer tools or scripts can properly read or export the exact lexical data. Despite this, you can just drag and drop your file to convert.guru to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. Our deep file analysis detects supported underlying XML structures or embedded text content to help you bypass these frustrating format limitations.
Convert.Guru analyzes your DICTIONARY file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted MARKER, PG2, BITMAP, LIST and JSON files.
If you want to convert DICTIONARY file to LIST, JSON, DB, SQLITE, SQLITE3, MDB, ACCDB, DBF, ODB, FDB, GDB or MYD, you can use Apple Dictionary or similar software from the "Lexical Data & Game Database" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert NDF, SQLITE3, BAK, RDB, SQL, DB4, MDF, MDB, LDF, DB, DB3 or SQLITE files to DICTIONARY, try Apple Dictionary or another comparable tool in the "Lexical Data & Game Database" 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 DICTIONARY converter.