Convert Smooth Streaming or InstallShield files (ISM) online for free
The converter easily converts your ISM files to various formats - free and online. No Flexera InstallShield or or other Developer software needed.
To convert other file formats to the "Project or Manifest File" file type, you need software like Flexera InstallShield or a similar tool.
The .ISM file format is a highly fractured extension, most commonly used as either an IIS Smooth Streaming Manifest File by Microsoft, or an InstallShield Project File by Flexera InstallShield. In web streaming, it acts as an XML map directing media players to specific video and audio bitrates. For software developers, it stores the complex configurations required to build a Windows installer (MSI). Less commonly, it functions as an ISAM database file for legacy Visual Basic or COBOL systems, or even as an Integrated Structural Model file for 3D CAD.
The primary disadvantage of the .ISM format is its proprietary lock-in and heavy context dependency. A streaming manifest is completely useless without the large ISMV video chunks it points to. Meanwhile, InstallShield projects require expensive software licensing to open and compile the file. This makes sharing project data or migrating installers extremely difficult. Users often want to convert an .ISM file to a standard XML, TXT, or JSON format to audit installer settings, extract media metadata, or migrate their deployment scripts.
Unfortunately, standard online converters fail with .ISM files because of their varied nature. Legacy InstallShield projects often use a closed Microsoft Compound file structure that appears as unreadable binary data. ISAM databases are similarly inaccessible without specialized database engines. Just drag and drop your file onto convert.guru to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. Our platform bypasses the extension and analyzes the file's internal signature. If our analysis detects a supported underlying XML schema or embedded text, viewing or conversion may still be possible without the original expensive software.
Use Convert.Guru to open and convert your ISM file.
Users also converted DOCX, ISM_, LSM, SEW, XLSX, PDF, TXT, XIX, PNG and WIX files.
If you want to convert ISM file to WIX, JS, TS, PY, JAVA, CPP, C, CS, PHP, RB, GO or RS, you can use Flexera InstallShield or similar software from the "Streaming Manifest or Installer Project" 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 ISM, try Flexera InstallShield or another comparable tool in the "Streaming Manifest or Installer 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 ISM converter.