HQX Converter

Extract text from HQX files


Drop or upload your .HQX file
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How to extract text from your HQX file

  1. Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your HQX file.
  2. You’ll see a preview, if available.
  3. Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert HQX to another file type

To convert your HQX file to another format, you need StuffIt Expander or other Encoded software.

Convert a file to HQX

To convert other file formats to the "BinHex 4.0 Archive" file type, you need software like StuffIt Expander or a similar tool.


About HQX files

A .hqx file is a legacy BinHex 4.0 encoded archive used primarily on Macintosh systems to transmit binary files through text-only channels like email. Unlike modern archives, .hqx files convert complex Mac files (specifically those with distinct "Data" and "Resource" forks) into 7-bit ASCII text strings to prevent corruption during transfer. While effective in the 1990s, this format is now obsolete and problematic: it increases file size by roughly 40%, looks like gibberish text to Windows users, and requires specific decoding tools like The Unarchiver or StuffIt Expander to open. For modern use, users typically need to decode the .hqx wrapper to extract the actual contents (often JPG images, DOC documents, or SIT archives) or repackage them into a universally compatible ZIP file.

Convert.Guru analyzes your HQX file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted SIT, OPT, ZIP, TXT, PDF, ASPX, RGF, B64 and UU files.


FAQ

If you want to convert HQX file to BASE64, HEX, BIN, ENC, CRYPT, AES, DES, RSA, PGP, GPG, ASC or KEY, you can use StuffIt Expander or similar software from the "Macintosh File Encoding" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert CER, BIN, PEM, DER, KEY, P7S, PFX, ENC, P12, BASE64, P7B or HEX files to HQX, try StuffIt Expander or another comparable tool in the "Macintosh File Encoding" category.



The HQX 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 HQX converter.