Extract text from M files
To convert your M file to another format, you need MathWorks MATLAB or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Programming Script" file type, you need software like MathWorks MATLAB or a similar tool.
The .M file extension primarily serves two distinct user bases: scientists using MathWorks MATLAB for technical computing, and software developers using Objective-C for legacy iOS/macOS applications created in Apple Xcode. While these files are fundamentally plain text, they rely on expensive, proprietary environments to execute or compile. Sharing a raw .M file with a colleague who lacks a MATLAB license or Xcode installation often results in compatibility errors or the inability to run the code. Furthermore, simply opening them in a notepad destroys syntax highlighting, making complex algorithms difficult to read.
For documentation, academic submission, or non-technical review, the best workflow is to convert .M files to PDF. This preserves code structure and formatting for archiving. For web-based documentation, converting to HTML ensures the code is viewable in any browser. If you strictly need to port the logic to open-source alternatives, converting the text content to Python (P.Y) is a common migration path.
Note: A significant number of .M files found on mobile devices are actually Google Maps vector tile cache files. These are internal binary data used by Android to speed up map loading and generally should not be converted or modified.
Convert.Guru analyzes your M file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted MAT, MLX, ASV, SLX, PY, FIG, JPG, BIN, PRO, NPY, PDF, C and DOCX files.
If you want to convert M file to KM, M2, NM, CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG or CONF, you can use MathWorks MATLAB or similar software from the "Source Code & Scripts" 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 M, try MathWorks MATLAB or another comparable tool in the "Source Code & Scripts" 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 M converter.