Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your LCK file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert LCK to another file type
To convert LCK lock files to another format, you need ArchiCAD or other System software.
Convert a file to LCK
To convert other file formats to the "Temporary Lock File" file type, you need software like ArchiCAD or a similar tool.
About LCK files
A .lck file is a temporary lock file used by applications to manage concurrency and prevent multiple users from editing the same document or database simultaneously. Major software tools like ArchiCAD, VMware Workstation, and HyperSQL Database generate these files automatically. When a project is opened, the program creates the .lck file; when it is closed safely, the file is deleted. The primary disadvantage of the .lck format is that it usually contains no actual user data. These are often tiny metadata files or even 0-byte markers. They only contain information about the user or process that holds the lock. Users typically encounter these files as orphaned locks after a software crash. When this happens, the main application refuses to open the source project because it falsely believes another user is working on it. In other cases, .lck files are actually JPG or PDF files that have been renamed or encrypted by Android photo vault apps or ransomware. Standard online converters fail to process .lck files because they assume the file contains media or document data. If you have a true system lock file, you do not need to convert it; you simply need to delete it to regain access to your main project. However, if your file is a disguised image or document, the best target formats are JPG or PDF. Because this format is highly context-dependent, resolving it can be confusing. Our platform will inspect the internal structure of your .lck file to tell you if it is a plain text lock, an orphaned system marker, or a hidden image file that can be recovered.
Convert.Guru analyzes your LCK file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert LCK file to TMP, TEMP, CACHE, LOG, BAK, OLD, NEW, PART, DOWNLOAD, CRDOWNLOAD, LOCK or PID, you can use ArchiCAD or similar software from the "Temporary File Concurrency Lock" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DEVICE, CACHE, SOCK, SYMLINK, PID, MOUNT, FIFO, LOG, PIPE, TMP, JUNCTION or TEMP files to LCK, try ArchiCAD or another comparable tool in the "Temporary File Concurrency Lock" category.
The LCK 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 LCK converter.