Extract text from Nintendo Switch save files (NSON)
To convert NSON save files to another format, you need NSON Editor or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Game Save File" file type, you need software like NSON Editor or a similar tool.
The .NSON file extension is a proprietary game save format heavily utilized by Nintendo Switch titles and PC games like No Man's Sky (developed by Hello Games). It is also the default binary serialization format for visual novels built on the Naninovel engine. These files store critical game session data, including player progression, inventory coordinates, and character statistics.
Typically, you need an NSON Editor or a game-specific save analyzer to open these files. The biggest disadvantage of the .NSON format is its closed, binary nature. It is essentially a compiled, serialized version of JSON data, meaning you cannot natively read or edit it in standard text editors. Users face severe limitations when trying to back up, mod, or port their save data across platforms, as standard converters fail to bypass the proprietary encryption and custom checksums used to prevent cheating.
To successfully edit your game state, the best target conversion formats are standard JSON or XML. Converting to JSON allows you to safely modify variables before repacking the file. Be warned: converting the text back into an .NSON file without recalculating the security checksum will result in a corrupted save warning in-game.
Because this file format is difficult to open or convert, often only the original software or specialized modding tools can properly read or export the data. However, convert.guru can still identify the file format, inspect the file, and show text or internal content. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible. Just drag and drop your file to see what it is and convert it if supported.
Convert.Guru analyzes your NSON file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted JSON, TXT, CDW, MID, CHD, PNG, RAR, G3D, AUP3 and ZIP files.
If you want to convert NSON file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use NSON Editor or similar software from the "Game Save Data Storage" 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 NSON, try NSON Editor or another comparable tool in the "Game Save Data 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 NSON converter.