Extract text from FL files
To convert your FL file to another format, you need Freelancer or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Saved Game Data" file type, you need software like Freelancer or a similar tool.
The .FL file extension is a somewhat ambiguous format primarily associated with Freelancer, the classic space trading combat simulator developed by Digital Anvil and published by Microsoft. In this context, the file functions as a Game Save File, storing player progress, ship loadouts, and location data in a proprietary, often encoded format. Users typically encounter these files when attempting to transfer saves between PCs or when using modding tools like the Ioncross Freelancer Character Editor to modify in-game resources. Because these files are binary and strictly tied to the game engine, they cannot be opened by standard text editors or image viewers.
However, in scientific and development circles, a .FL file serves entirely different purposes. It is frequently seen as a Fluorescence Lifetime Decay data file generated by Edinburgh Instruments spectrometers. Researchers often struggle with this format because it locks valuable experimental data inside a proprietary container, requiring conversion to CSV, TXT, or Microsoft Excel formats for analysis in standard graphing software. Additionally, the extension is used by the FLTK (Fast Light Toolkit) as a FLUID GUI Design file. These are actually plain text files describing user interface layouts, which developers need to compile into CXX and H C++ source code files.
Convert.Guru analyzes your FL file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted FLP, FI, FLA, BIN, SCX, VFD, DL and L 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 FL converter.