LYR Converter

Extract text from LYR files

Select File
Drop or upload your .LYR file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your LYR file

Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your LYR file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert LYR to another file type

To convert your LYR file to another format, you need Esri ArcGIS Pro or other GIS software.

LYR to SHP
LYR to SLD
LYR to QML
LYR to KMZ
LYR to KML
LYR to TIFF
LYR to DWG
LYR to DXF
LYR to DGN
LYR to RVT
LYR to RFA
LYR to SKP

Convert a file to LYR

To convert other file formats to the "Map Layer Definition" file type, you need software like Esri ArcGIS Pro or a similar tool.

SLDASM to LYR
DGN to LYR
PRT to LYR
IAM to LYR
X_B to LYR
CATPRODUCT to LYR
SLDPRT to LYR
RVT to LYR
ASM to LYR
DWG to LYR
CATPART to LYR
DXF to LYR

About LYR files

The .LYR extension primarily identifies an ArcGIS Layer File, a proprietary binary format used by older versions of Esri ArcGIS Desktop (specifically ArcMap) to store map visualization settings. Unlike a SHP (Shapefile) or Geodatabase, a .LYR file contains no actual geospatial data. Instead, it stores a reference path to the data source along with symbology rules, classifications, labeling properties, and visibility ranges.

Users often face significant friction with .LYR files because they rely on absolute file paths; if you share a .LYR file without the accompanying source data (or if the drive letters differ), the layer will break and display a red exclamation mark. Furthermore, the format is a legacy binary OLE Compound File, making it unreadable by text editors and difficult to import into modern, open-source GIS tools like QGIS without specialized plugins. It is also natively incompatible with the newer ArcGIS Pro, which utilizes the JSON-based .LYRX format.

Best Conversion Targets:

For Modern GIS Workflows: Convert to .LYRX to ensure compatibility with ArcGIS Pro and future-proof your symbology.
For Open Source GIS: Convert layer styles to SLD (Styled Layer Descriptor) or QML for use in QGIS and GeoServer.
For Data Sharing: Instead of converting the single file, package it as a LPK (Layer Package) to bundle the style and the data together.

*Note: A small percentage of .LYR files may be resin printing profiles for Lychee Slicer. These are distinct, text-based files used to configure 3D printer settings.*

Convert.Guru analyzes your LYR file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted LYRX, QML, ZIP, MXD, CPG, SHP, XML, KAR, LPK, SKM, KMZ, CRDOWNLOAD and TXT files.

The LYR 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 LYR converter.