Extract text from GFW files
To convert your GFW file to another format, you need Global Mapper or other GIS software.
To convert other file formats to the "Spatial Reference File" file type, you need software like Global Mapper or a similar tool.
A .gfw file is a GIF World File, a small, plain-text sidecar file used in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Its sole purpose is to provide georeferencing coordinates - scale, rotation, and anchor points - for an accompanying GIF raster image.
The Problem: On their own, .gfw files are useless; they must exist in the same folder as their matching GIF image to function. Because the coordinate data is detached from the image, it is notoriously easy to lose or corrupt the link between them (e.g., by renaming one file but not the other). Furthermore, the GIF format itself is limited to 256 colors, making it a poor choice for modern high-resolution aerial imagery compared to GeoTIFF or ECW.
The Solution: For professional GIS workflows, the best practice is to "burn" the .gfw data into the image by converting the pair to a GeoTIFF (tif) using software like Global Mapper or ArcGIS Pro. This embeds the location data directly into the file header, creating a single, portable file. For web mapping, users often convert the coordinates to KML or KMZ for display in Google Earth.
Convert.Guru analyzes your GFW file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted SBN, TFW and BIL files.
If you want to convert GFW file to SHP, KML, KMZ, GPX, GEOJSON, TOPOJSON, TIF, TIFF, ECW, SID, IMG or DEM, you can use Global Mapper or similar software from the "GIS Georeferencing" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert LAZ, KMZ, DTM, CSV, DEM, PRJ, LAS, GPX, DSM, SHP, DBF or KML files to GFW, try Global Mapper or another comparable tool in the "GIS Georeferencing" 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 GFW converter.