Extract text from HCP files
To convert your HCP file to another format, you need HydroCAD or Hardcopy Utility or other Raster Image software.
To convert other file formats to the "Legacy Image / CAD Data" file type, you need software like HydroCAD or Hardcopy Utility or a similar tool.
The .hcp extension suffers from a split personality, causing frequent confusion for users trying to open it. In most legacy contexts (approx. 59%), it represents a Hardcopy screen capture, a proprietary raster image format generated by older Windows screenshot utilities. These files are effectively "digital fossils"; modern image viewers like the default Windows Photos app or macOS Preview simply cannot render them, leaving you with inaccessible visual data unless converted. The friction here is pure obsolescence - you have an image, but your operating system treats it like random binary noise. For these, the best solution is converting to PNG for lossless archiving or JPG for easy sharing.
However, in civil engineering and hydrology (approx. 9%), an .hcp file is a project file created by HydroCAD. These contain complex stormwater modeling data, including rainfall distributions, watershed parameters, and hydraulic calculations. The constraint here is proprietary lock-in: you cannot view the drainage diagrams or hydrographs without a licensed copy of HydroCAD or their specific viewer. Engineers often need to move this data into reports or other CAD tools. The recommended workflow is exporting the project reports to PDF for documentation or converting the geometry to DXF/DWG for import into AutoCAD or Civil 3D.
A third, niche variant involves the Hamiltonian Cycle Problem (FHCP), where .hcp files store graph data for algorithm challenges. These are typically plain text or specific binary formats generally requiring custom parsers or conversion to TXT for analysis.
Convert.Guru analyzes your HCP file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted MCM, AKT, AMD and FCC files.
If you want to convert HCP file to FCC, DWG, DXF, DGN, RVT, RFA, SKP, 3DM, STEP, IGES, SAT or X_T, you can use HydroCAD or Hardcopy Utility or similar software from the "Screen Capture / Hydrology Project" 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 HCP, try HydroCAD or Hardcopy Utility or another comparable tool in the "Screen Capture / Hydrology Project" 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 HCP converter.