Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your IDL file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert IDL to another file type
To convert IDL Interface files to another format, you need Microsoft Visual Studio or other Developer software.
Convert a file to IDL
To convert other file formats to the "Source Code & Data" file type, you need software like Microsoft Visual Studio or a similar tool.
About IDL files
An .idl file typically functions as an Interface Definition Language file. These files are used in distributed computing systems, such as CORBA, Microsoft COM, and DDS, to define software interfaces in a language-independent way. This allows software components written in different programming languages, such as C++ and Java, to communicate seamlessly. Software like Microsoft Visual Studio relies heavily on .idl files to generate type libraries and header files for application development. Alternatively, the .idl extension is used as a data save file for Interactive Data Language, which is heavily utilized in astronomy and medical imaging, or as an IDEF0 function model diagram in legacy tools like Computer Associates BPwin. Working with .idl files presents significant challenges because the file extension is heavily fragmented and shared across entirely different software domains. If your file is interface code, it is essentially plain text, but standard users cannot execute or utilize it without a dedicated IDL compiler like Microsoft's midl.exe. The major disadvantage here is an absolute dependency on complex developer environments. If it is an Interactive Data Language file or a BPwin model, it uses a proprietary, closed binary format. You cannot simply open it in a web browser, and it requires an expensive, specialized software license to access your data. If your .idl file is source code, the best conversion targets are .TXT or .PDF for easy reading and sharing. For BPwin models, exporting to .PDF or .JPG is highly recommended for viewing. For Interactive Data save files, converting the numeric arrays to .CSV is the most pragmatic workaround. Standard online converters fail constantly because they cannot determine which of the unrelated formats your .idl file actually is.
Convert.Guru analyzes your IDL file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert IDL file to PYTHON, C++, TLB, JS, TS, PY, JAVA, CPP, C, CS, PHP or RB, you can use Microsoft Visual Studio or similar software from the "Interface definition and data" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SH, PY, KT, PS1, SWIFT, LUA, PL, JAVA, SCALA, JS, VBS or TS files to IDL, try Microsoft Visual Studio or another comparable tool in the "Interface definition and data" category.
The IDL 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 IDL converter.