Extract text from MBOX files
To convert your MBOX file to another format, you need Mozilla Thunderbird or other Text software.
To convert other file formats to the "Email Archive" file type, you need software like Mozilla Thunderbird or a similar tool.
MBOX (Mailbox) files are the industry-standard format for storing collections of email messages. Originally developed for Unix systems, this format concatenates multiple emails - including attachments and metadata - into a single long text file. It is the default export format for Google Takeout (Gmail backups), Mozilla Thunderbird, and Apple Mail.
While MBOX is excellent for compact storage, it presents significant accessibility challenges. Because it is a single continuous file, you cannot easily extract, view, or share individual messages without importing the entire archive into a compatible email client. Furthermore, popular enterprise software like Microsoft Outlook does not natively support opening .MBOX files, often forcing users to purchase expensive third-party plugins just to view their own data. Large .MBOX files can also become unwieldy and prone to corruption if edited directly.
To overcome these limitations, we recommend specific conversions based on your needs:
Convert.Guru analyzes your MBOX file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted TABLE_OF_CONTENTS, EMAIL, ZIP, MBX, OLM, PST, JSON, TXT, BOX, MB, MEM, CRYPT14 and EML files.
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 MBOX converter.