Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your KAP file.
You'll see a preview.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to save your file in the format you want.
Convert KAP to another file type
The converter easily converts your KAP file to various formats - free and online. No Excel or extra software needed.
Convert a file to KAP
The converter also works in reverse, so you can convert other GIS formats to KAP with high quality output.
About KAP files
A .KAP file is a specialized raster image format used primarily for BSB (Better Boating Association) electronic nautical charts. Originally developed by Maptech, these files contain a scanned or rasterized image of a paper chart overlaid with header information that provides georeferencing (latitude/longitude calibration). While indispensable for marine navigation in software like OpenCPN or legacy chart plotters, the format is archaic and restrictive for general use. Because .KAP files rely on a proprietary Run-Length Encoding (RLE) compression and specific header structures, they are incompatible with standard image viewers, web browsers, and mobile operating systems. Users often struggle to share these charts with crew members or print them for backup because of this software lock-in. To make the chart data accessible outside of navigation suites, users should convert .KAP files to PNG or TIFF for high-resolution archiving, or PDF for easy printing and sharing. Note that converting to standard image formats will strip the active georeferencing data, turning the navigational chart into a static map image.
Use Convert.Guru to open and convert your KAP file.
If you want to convert KAP file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use OpenCPN or similar software from the "Raster Nautical Chart" 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 KAP, try OpenCPN or another comparable tool in the "Raster Nautical Chart" category.
The KAP 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 KAP converter.