Extract text from GBLORB files
To convert your GBLORB file to another format, you need Gargoyle or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Interactive Fiction Archive" file type, you need software like Gargoyle or a similar tool.
A .gblorb file is a packaged Interactive Fiction (IF) game, specifically designed for the Glulx virtual machine and wrapped in a Blorb container. Think of it as a multimedia archive for text adventures: it bundles the compiled game code (typically an ULX file) along with resources like PNG images, OGG or AIFF sound effects, and metadata (like cover art) into a single file.
A major limitation with .gblorb files is their opacity. Because they are binary containers based on the IFF (Interchange File Format) standard, you cannot open them in a text editor to read the code, nor can you double-click them to extract the music or artwork without specialized tools. They require a dedicated interpreter like Gargoyle or Lectrote to execute. Furthermore, older interpreters may struggle with the multimedia components, leaving you with a large file that refuses to play correctly.
For most users, "converting" a .gblorb means one of two things: extracting the embedded media or stripping the wrapper to get the raw game file. If you need to archive the game logic, extracting the internal ULX file is the standard approach. If you want the soundtrack or graphics, you will need to decompose the Blorb container into individual JPG, PNG, and audio files.
Convert.Guru analyzes your GBLORB file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted BLORB, GLKDATA, ZIP, TZST, 1-STEP and ZC 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 GBLORB converter.