Extract text from HWR files
To convert your HWR file to another format, you need HumminbirdPC or other GIS software.
To convert other file formats to the "Navigation Data File" file type, you need software like HumminbirdPC or a similar tool.
The .hwr extension primarily identifies Humminbird Waypoint and Route files, a proprietary binary format used by Humminbird GPS fish finders to store navigation data. These files are typically located inside a matrix folder on the device's SD card, often named DATA.HWR. Users often deal with issues because this format is not natively supported by Google Earth, Garmin, or Lowrance devices, locking valuable fishing spots and route data to a specific hardware ecosystem. To edit waypoints on a PC, share coordinates with friends, or migrate to a different GPS unit, users must convert .hwr files to universally accepted formats like GPX (GPS Exchange Format) or KML (Keyhole Markup Language).
A secondary, less common use of .hwr is for Handwriting Recognition data, storing digital ink strokes from stylus input on legacy devices or research databases (like NIST). These files are raw vector data, not standard images, making them impossible to view in standard photo viewers without conversion to PDF or SVG.
Convert.Guru analyzes your HWR file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted TOC, BAI, FITS and GPX files.
If you want to convert HWR file to GPX, CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT or DB, you can use HumminbirdPC or similar software from the "GPS Waypoints & Routes" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to HWR, try HumminbirdPC or another comparable tool in the "GPS Waypoints & Routes" 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 HWR converter.