Extract text from ML20 files
To convert your ML20 file to another format, you need Windows Live Messenger or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Chat History Log" file type, you need software like Windows Live Messenger or a similar tool.
The .ML20 file extension is a digital relic, primarily serving as a conversation history log from the now-defunct Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger). These files act as time capsules, storing text-based chat histories, timestamps, and participant data from legacy instant messaging sessions. A secondary but significant portion of these files (approx. 30%) are GPS track logs generated by MioMap navigation software, used to record travel routes and waypoints.
The core problem users face with .ML20 files is distinct software obsolescence. Since Microsoft retired Windows Live Messenger in 2013, the native software required to parse and display these chats no longer functions on modern operating systems like Windows 10 or 11. Users are left with data they cannot read, locked in a format that text editors might display as garbled code due to proprietary encoding or binary formatting. Similarly, MioMap users often find that modern mapping tools do not natively support this specific GPS log variation, making it difficult to visualize trips on standard platforms like Google Earth.
To reclaim this data, conversion is the only practical solution. For Messenger logs, the goal is to convert .ML20 to TXT or HTML to make the conversation history human-readable again. For MioMap data, converting the file to standard GPX (GPS Exchange Format) or KML allows for immediate importing into virtually any modern mapping application.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ML20 file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted VC, WD3, CW and TDK files.
If you want to convert ML20 file to MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV, FLV, WEBM, MKV, M4V, 3GP, OGV, ASF or RM, you can use Windows Live Messenger or similar software from the "Messenger Conversation Log" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MTS, MOV, RMVB, DIVX, RM, H264, TS, WMV, VOB, MP4, XVID or AVI files to ML20, try Windows Live Messenger or another comparable tool in the "Messenger Conversation Log" 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 ML20 converter.