Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your GDS file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert GDS to another file type
To convert GDS layouts or videos to another format, you need Cadence Virtuoso or other Cad software.
Convert a file to GDS
To convert other file formats to the "IC Layout Database File" file type, you need software like Cadence Virtuoso or a similar tool.
About GDS files
The .GDS file functions primarily as an industry-standard binary database used to store integrated circuit (IC) layout artwork for semiconductor manufacturing. For chip designs, engineers use specialized Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software like Cadence Virtuoso, LayoutEditor, or KLayout to open them. A secondary, entirely unrelated use case involves dashcam event videos created by the Generalplus chipset, while a minor fraction represents geotechnical testing data from GDS Instruments. The GDSII format is notoriously outdated. Developed in the 1970s, it lacks modern data compression. Consequently, files representing modern microprocessors often swell to hundreds of gigabytes, making them extremely slow to transfer or load. For dashcam users, .GDS video files present a different headache: they are often proprietary, locked, and refuse to play in standard media players like VLC or web browsers. When converting IC layouts, engineers prefer the modern .OASIS format, which significantly reduces file size, or DXF and CIF for generic CAD viewing. Dashcam users typically need to extract the raw video stream into standard MP4 or AVI files. Because of these extreme technical differences - massive hierarchical geometry versus proprietary video wrappers - standard online converters inevitably fail. They lack the EDA engines required to parse billions of polygons and the codecs for obscure dashcam formats. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your GDS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted GDS5, DXF, GDS2, GTD, OAS, MS26_GDS FILE FOR CUT, PNG, CIF, GTE, TDB, PDF, DGS and JPG files.
FAQ
If you want to convert GDS file to DXF, PNG, DEF, SVG, PDF, STL, DWG, DGN, RVT, RFA, SKP or 3DM, you can use Cadence Virtuoso or similar software from the "Integrated Circuit Layout Data" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SLDASM, DGN, PRT, IAM, X_B, CATPRODUCT, SLDPRT, RVT, ASM, DWG, CATPART or DXF files to GDS, try Cadence Virtuoso or another comparable tool in the "Integrated Circuit Layout Data" category.
The GDS 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 GDS converter.