Extract text from Interface Builder files (NIB)
To convert NIB interface files to another format, you need Apple Xcode or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "User Interface Design File" file type, you need software like Apple Xcode or a similar tool.
A .NIB (NeXTSTEP Interface Builder) file is a user interface resource file. It contains archived UI objects - like windows, buttons, and text fields - used in macOS and iOS applications. It is created and managed by Apple Xcode. Internally, older .NIB files are directories containing PLIST or XML data, but compiled deployment versions are binary archives.
The biggest disadvantage of the .NIB format is its proprietary, often binary nature. It is unreadable by humans and causes severe merge conflicts in version control systems like Git. It requires macOS and Xcode to open natively, making the file completely useless for developers working on Windows or Linux. Because of these limits, Apple largely replaced source .NIB files with the flat, text-based XIB format for active development.
You need to convert these files to modernize an old codebase, extract design properties, or read the data on non-Apple operating systems. For active UI editing, convert your .NIB to XIB or STORYBOARD. If you just need to inspect the raw object data outside of a Mac environment, convert it to XML or PLIST.
Convert.Guru analyzes your NIB file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted NBIB, XIB, CAR, ZIP, CODERESOURCES, MOM, ICNS, IPA, TXT, PDF, EXE, JPG and NLBL files.
If you want to convert NIB file to D64, XIB, G64, JS, TS, PY, JAVA, CPP, C, CS, PHP or RB, you can use Apple Xcode or similar software from the "User Interface Resource Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SH, PY, KT, PS1, SWIFT, LUA, PL, JAVA, SCALA, JS, VBS or TS files to NIB, try Apple Xcode or another comparable tool in the "User Interface Resource Storage" 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 NIB converter.