Extract text from FBK files
To convert your FBK file to another format, you need Firebird or other Backup software.
To convert other file formats to the "Database Archive" file type, you need software like Firebird or a similar tool.
A .fbk file is primarily associated with two distinct ecosystems: database management and genealogy.
Most commonly, it acts as a compressed backup for the Firebird RDBMS. These binary files are critical for disaster recovery but are useless without the specific version of the Firebird server utility (gbak) to restore them into a working FDB database. Users often struggle with these files when migrating servers or attempting to extract data without a running database instance. To access the data for analysis or migration, the best workflow is to restore the database and then convert tables to CSV, SQL, or XLSX.
Alternatively, an .fbk file may be a backup archive created by Family Tree Maker (FTM). These files compress a user's entire genealogy research, including media and text, into a single package. A common friction point is proprietary lock-in; newer versions of FTM or alternative genealogy software (like RootsMagic) often cannot directly import an older .fbk file without first restoring it within the original software environment. For long-term archiving and sharing with relatives using different platforms, users should convert these archives to the standard GED (GEDCOM) format or print charts to PDF.
Less frequently, .fbk files are used by Microsoft Dynamics NAV for legacy ERP backups or by AutoCAD Civil 3D to store surveying field data. While the surveying files are often plain text and readable, the Dynamics backups are complex binary containers requiring specific legacy environments to open.
Convert.Guru analyzes your FBK file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted FTW, FDB, FBC, ZIP, 7Z, TXT, PDF, XLSX, FBX, GED, DLL, BAK and APKG files.
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 FBK converter.