Extract text from Apple credential files (KEYCHAIN)
To convert KEYCHAIN credentials to another format, you need Apple Keychain Access or other Database software.
To convert other file formats to the "Encrypted Credential Database" file type, you need software like Apple Keychain Access or a similar tool.
The .KEYCHAIN file is a secure credential storage database used natively by the macOS operating system to store passwords, secure notes, cryptographic keys, and certificates. It is typically opened and managed using Apple Keychain Access.
Users often need to convert or extract data from a .KEYCHAIN file when migrating to cross-platform password managers like Bitwarden or 1Password. However, the format has severe disadvantages for portability. It is completely proprietary to the Apple ecosystem, unsupported by web browsers, and cannot be opened natively on Windows or Linux machines. Furthermore, the database is heavily encrypted, meaning raw data extraction is impossible without the original user's master password.
For password migration, the best target formats are CSV or TXT. Be aware that exporting to these standard formats strips away all encryption, leaving your sensitive passwords in plain text, which presents a major security risk if the files are not permanently deleted after use.
This file format is exceptionally difficult to open or convert externally because it is a closed, proprietary, and highly encrypted binary structure. Standard online converters fail completely because they lack the required decryption keys and the proprietary macOS frameworks needed to read the internal data structure. Often, only the original Apple Keychain Access software running on an Apple device can properly read or export the data. However, you can still use convert.guru as your pragmatic workaround: just drag and drop your file to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or partial conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your KEYCHAIN file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted KEYCHAIN-DB, KEY, CRYPT7, EPSQL and PIN files.
If you want to convert KEYCHAIN file to PIN, CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT or DB, you can use Apple Keychain Access or similar software from the "Secure credential storage database" 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 KEYCHAIN, try Apple Keychain Access or another comparable tool in the "Secure credential storage database" 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 KEYCHAIN converter.