Extract text from Load case or archive files (LCA)
To convert LCA files to another format, you need PLS-CADD or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Specialized Engineering or Archive" file type, you need software like PLS-CADD or a similar tool.
The .LCA file extension has multiple distinct uses depending on your software environment. Primarily, it functions as a Structure Load Case file used by Power Line Systems (PLS-CADD) to store structural engineering and wire tension data. Alternatively, it serves as an Adobe LiveCycle Application Archive for enterprise forms created in Adobe LiveCycle Designer, or a Consolidated Log Archive generated by the LogRhythm SIEM Platform. A smaller number of files act as Life Cycle Assessment data files for environmental modeling software like SimaPro.
Because these are highly specialized data formats, .LCA files pose significant operational challenges. Users often need to convert them to extract data without paying for expensive, specialized software licenses. PLS-CADD requires a costly dongle and subscription to open its proprietary data files, locking structural models away from non-engineers. Adobe LiveCycle archives are actually standard ZIP files containing raw XML and form assets, but you need Adobe's enterprise tools to render the final dynamic PDF form. LogRhythm files are GZIP compressed logs, rendering them unreadable to standard text editors without prior extraction.
To make the data accessible, PLS-CADD data usually needs to be exported to CSV, TXT, or PDF reports directly from within the native PLS-CADD software. For Adobe and LogRhythm files, renaming the extension to ZIP or GZ respectively is the most pragmatic workaround to extract the contents manually. Because these are closed, proprietary formats, standard online converters consistently fail to process them. Often, only the original software can properly read or export the data. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your LCA file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted LSA, ICA, XDP, DLF and SDU files.
If you want to convert LCA file to , you can use PLS-CADD or similar software from the "Engineering Data or Application Archive" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to LCA, try PLS-CADD or another comparable tool in the "Engineering Data or Application Archive" 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 LCA converter.