Extract text from OSC files
To convert your OSC file to another format, you need JOSM or other GIS software.
To convert other file formats to the "Map Update File" file type, you need software like JOSM or a similar tool.
An .osc file is primarily associated with OpenStreetMap (OSM) as a generic XML-based "change" file. These files contain differential data - specifically create, modify, and delete elements - used to update map datasets without re-downloading the entire planet file. While efficient for data synchronization via tools like Osmosis, standalone .osc files are notoriously difficult to visualize because they lack the full context of the map; they are merely a list of edits. Users often struggle to open them in standard GIS software like QGIS without first merging them into a base OSM or PBF file.
Adding to the confusion, the .osc extension is also used by OMSI 2 (The Bus Simulator) for vehicle scripts and EDAX OIM Analysis for electron backscatter diffraction data. If your file is text-based but not XML, it is likely an OMSI script that can be edited with Notepad++.
Conversion Best Practices:
Convert.Guru analyzes your OSC file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PDF, SGD, OSM, ECA, XDT, VAP and MIDI files.
If you want to convert OSC file to MIDI, SHP, KML, KMZ, GPX, GEOJSON, TOPOJSON, TIF, TIFF, ECW, SID or IMG, you can use JOSM or similar software from the "OpenStreetMap Change Data" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert LAZ, KMZ, DTM, CSV, DEM, PRJ, LAS, GPX, DSM, SHP, DBF or KML files to OSC, try JOSM or another comparable tool in the "OpenStreetMap Change Data" 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 OSC converter.