Extract text from PCV files
To convert your PCV file to another format, you need MozBackup or other Backup software.
To convert other file formats to the "Application Data Archive" file type, you need software like MozBackup or a similar tool.
The .PCV file extension represents three distinct data storage methods, most commonly serving as a profile backup for Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird. Originally created by the MozBackup utility, these files are standard ZIP archives containing emails, bookmarks, and user settings. However, MozBackup is abandoned software (last updated in 2012), meaning users often struggle to restore these legacy backups to modern browser versions. Because the format is simply a renamed ZIP, users can often circumvent the need for the defunct utility by renaming the file extension from .PCV to ZIP to manually extract data like MBOX (emails) or JSON (bookmarks).
A secondary but significant use (approx. 15%) is for Picocrypt, a modern, open-source encryption tool designed by Evan Su. These .PCV files are secure, encrypted containers using XChaCha20-Poly1305 algorithms. They are designed specifically to prevent unauthorized access, meaning they cannot be "converted" in the traditional sense without the correct password and keyfile; they must be decrypted using Picocrypt first. Finally, Laplink PCmover uses this format for migration data when moving files between computers. For MozBackup files, the best conversion workflow is to treat them as archives: convert to ZIP to extract contents, or convert extracted documents to PDF for archiving.
Convert.Guru analyzes your PCV file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PVC, SQLITE, PDF, PNG, JPG, DO, CSV, DB, MBOX, SBD and MSF files.
If you want to convert PCV file to ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, LZMA, CAB, ACE, ARJ or LHA, you can use MozBackup or similar software from the "Mozilla Profile Backup" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert XXE, 7Z, Z, PAK, LHA, DEB, UUE, TAR, LZH, ZIP, PKG or RAR files to PCV, try MozBackup or another comparable tool in the "Mozilla Profile Backup" 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 PCV converter.