Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your DS file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert DS to another file type
To convert DS files to another format, you need PASCO DataStudio or other Data software.
Convert a file to DS
To convert other file formats to the "Experiment Data & Map Files" file type, you need software like PASCO DataStudio or a similar tool.
About DS files
The .DS file format handles multiple disparate data types. Most commonly, it stores science experiment data generated by PASCO DataStudio, recording sensor inputs like temperature and voltage in a UTF-16 text structure. It is also heavily used in the tabletop RPG community as a saved map project for tools like Dungeondraft or Dungeon Scrawl, often structured as a ZIP or JSON archive. Additionally, scanner frameworks use .DS as a TWAIN Data Source driver executable. The main disadvantage of the .DS format is extreme fragmentation. Standard online converters fail to process .DS files because they cannot guess whether they are handling an RPG map, a scanner plugin, or proprietary science metrics. Science data relies on proprietary PASCO formatting, forcing you into their software ecosystem to read the graphs. RPG maps trap your creative work in specific software versions. To escape these limits, extracting science data to .CSV or .TXT is best for analysis in Excel. For RPG maps, converting the underlying project to a flattened .PNG or .JPG makes it usable in Virtual Tabletops (VTTs). This file format is inherently difficult to open or convert because its internal structure changes drastically depending on the source. Often only the original software can properly read or export the data. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your DS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert DS file to S, CIA, PDF, OBJ, FBX, DAE, 3DS, MAX, BLEND, MA, MB or C4D, you can use PASCO DataStudio or similar software from the "Science Data & RPG Maps" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DWG, DAE, X3D, IGES, WRL, JT, SKP, 3DS, 3DM, OBJ, STEP or FBX files to DS, try PASCO DataStudio or another comparable tool in the "Science Data & RPG Maps" category.
The DS 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 DS converter.