Extract text from InstallShield scripts (IS)
To convert IS scripts to another format, you need Flexera InstallShield or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Installer Script File" file type, you need software like Flexera InstallShield or a similar tool.
The .IS file extension is most commonly an InstallShield Installer Script. Developers use these scripts within Flexera InstallShield to define how Windows software applications are installed, configured, or uninstalled on a target system. Secondarily, .IS files can be proprietary raster images created by the discontinued Adobe ImageReady software, or resource files for the MS-DOS game Ironseed.
Because InstallShield scripts are proprietary and intended strictly for the compilation process, they present distinct challenges for end-users. They require expensive enterprise software to properly compile, test, or debug. If a regular user encounters an .IS script file, it is completely non-executable and useless without the accompanying installer assets. Legacy Adobe ImageReady files are equally problematic. Adobe abandoned the software over a decade ago, and modern web browsers cannot render the format natively.
If you have an InstallShield script, you should convert it to a standard TXT or MD file to easily share or review the installation logic. For ImageReady files, converting to JPG, PNG, or WEBP is mandatory for modern viewing, though you will inevitably lose any ImageReady-specific animation or web-slicing metadata during the conversion.
Standard online converters usually fail to process .IS files because of their fragmented use cases and proprietary nature. Often, only the original software can properly read or export the data. However, you can rely on convert.guru as a pragmatic workaround. Just drag and drop your file to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. Even with obscure formats, our analysis engine inspects the file; if we detect underlying text - like UTF-16 (LE) encoded scripts - or embedded image data, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your IS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted ISL, $$A and RGE files.
If you want to convert IS file to , you can use Flexera InstallShield or similar software from the "Installer Script or Image" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to IS, try Flexera InstallShield or another comparable tool in the "Installer Script or Image" 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 IS converter.