Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your PBF file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert PBF to another file type
To convert PBF Files to another format, you need Osmium or other GIS software.
Convert a file to PBF
To convert other file formats to the "Binary Map Data File" file type, you need software like Osmium or a similar tool.
About PBF files
The .PBF file extension is primarily associated with OpenStreetMap (OSM) Protocolbuffer Binary Format files. This format stores massive amounts of geographic map data, including nodes, ways, and relations, using highly compressed binary serialization. Secondary uses include closed proprietary project files for CEWE Photoworld, and various backup files for mobile phones and PCs created by software like MOBILedit! or Paragon. You can process OSM PBF files using specialized GIS tools like Osmium or GDAL. The main disadvantage of the .PBF format is its rigid, application-specific binary structure. Users cannot open these files in standard text editors because the binary data will immediately freeze or crash the software due to massive file sizes often exceeding several gigabytes. Users typically need to convert OSM PBF files to readable geographic formats like XML, GeoJSON, or CSV to analyze the data in standard software. For CEWE photo books, the format is entirely proprietary, locking users into a single ecosystem when they really want a standard PDF or JPG to share with family. Because these files are closed binary structures, standard online converters completely fail to process them. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, such as a ZIP or GZIP layer within the binary, viewing or partial conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your PBF file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert PBF file to OSM, MBTILES, GEOJSON, SHP, CSV, JSON, XML, IMG, MP3, WAV, AAC or FLAC, you can use Osmium or similar software from the "Compressed Map Data Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MIDI, AAC, TTA, AU, WV, DTS, MID, FLAC, RA, MP3, PCM or WAV files to PBF, try Osmium or another comparable tool in the "Compressed Map Data Storage" category.
The PBF Converter Story
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 PBF converter.