Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your PCN file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert PCN to another file type
To convert PCN Notifications to another format, you need SmartPCN Viewer or other Data software.
Convert a file to PCN
To convert other file formats to the "Engineering Data Exchange" file type, you need software like SmartPCN Viewer or a similar tool.
About PCN files
The .PCN file extension represents two distinct data formats used in engineering and manufacturing.
Product Change Notification (SmartPCN): This is the most common use (approx. 53%), utilized by manufacturers like Würth Elektronik to automate supply chain communication. These files are technically ZIP archives containing structured XML data and PDF documents detailing changes to electronic components (e.g., material updates, dimension corrections).
P-CAD Netlist/Packaging: A legacy format from P-CAD (Personal CAD Systems), an EDA software acquired by Altium. In this context, the file contains ASCII text describing component connectivity (netlists) or packaging information for printed circuit board (PCB) designs.
Common Friction Points:
Hidden Containers: Users often cannot open SmartPCN files because the .pcn extension obscures the fact that it is simply a standard compressed folder.
Obsolescence: P-CAD files are from defunct software (last updated ~2006), making them impossible to open natively on modern OSs without expensive migration tools like Altium Designer.
Conversion & Viewing:
For SmartPCN: The quickest workaround is to rename the extension from .pcn to .zip. This allows you to extract and view the internal PDF reports or XML data using standard system tools. For official validation, use a COG/OPI-compliant SmartPCN Viewer.
For P-CAD: These are plain text files. You can open them with Notepad++ to view the data. To convert them into a modern usable design, you must import them using the Import Wizard in Altium Designer to generate modern PcbDoc or Gerber files.
Convert.Guru analyzes your PCN file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert PCN file to , you can use SmartPCN Viewer or similar software from the "Supply Chain Notification Archive" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to PCN, try SmartPCN Viewer or another comparable tool in the "Supply Chain Notification Archive" category.
The PCN 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 PCN converter.