Extract text from chess position files (FEN)
To convert FEN positions to another format, you need Stockfish or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Chess Position Record" file type, you need software like Stockfish or a similar tool.
FEN files most commonly serve as Forsyth-Edwards Notation records, a standard text-based format used to describe a specific board state in a game of Chess. Unlike PGN files that record an entire match history, a FEN file captures a single snapshot - piece placement, castling availability, and move counters - in a single line of ASCII text (e.g., rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8...). Users commonly have issues here: opening the file in a text editor reveals a cryptic string rather than a visual chessboard. To visualize or analyze the position, you must convert the FEN string to a JPG image or import it into chess engines like Stockfish or ChessBase.
Alternatively, based on your source, this could be a proprietary game asset. Next Level Games uses the extension for user interface layouts, while older FIFA titles and the Fenrir Engine utilize it for internal game data. In industrial settings, a .FEN file may be a configuration file for Mitsubishi Electric FX-ENET PLC modules. These proprietary binary variants are not meant for standard viewing; they often require specific environment tools like GX Developer or game modding utilities to parse. For web sharing or archiving chess positions, converting the text-based FEN to WebP, PNG, or PDF is the standard workflow.
Convert.Guru analyzes your FEN file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PNG, TXT, CSV, JPG, BIN, MRS, PI, ANIMATION and PGN files.
If you want to convert FEN file to PGN, EXE, ISO, BIN, CUE, PAK, WAD, PK3, PK4, BSP, MAP or SAV, you can use Stockfish or similar software from the "Chess Board State Notation" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MOD, BIN, CFG, SCX, DAT, MPQ, LOG, CUE, INI, EXE, SCM or ISO files to FEN, try Stockfish or another comparable tool in the "Chess Board State Notation" 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 FEN converter.