Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your PF file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert PF to another file type
To convert your PF file to another format, you need Microsoft Windows or other System software.
Convert a file to PF
To convert other file formats to the "Cache File" file type, you need software like Microsoft Windows or a similar tool.
About PF files
A .PF file is most commonly a Windows Prefetch file, a system artifact created by the Windows Memory Manager to speed up application startup. These files log detailed execution history, including run counts, timestamps, and file paths, making them critical for system optimization and digital forensics. However, they are stored in a proprietary binary format (often compressed) that cannot be read by standard text editors like Notepad or Word. Users commonly encounter problems when trying to analyze these files for troubleshooting or privacy audits because they require specialized forensic parsers to interpret the hash-based naming conventions and internal structures. Deleting them to save space is a common misconception that can actually degrade system performance. To analyze this data, the best approach is to convert the .PF file to CSV, TXT, or XML formats using forensic tools, allowing for easy sorting and reporting in spreadsheet software. Less frequently, a .PF file may be a proprietary game archive used by the Angelica Engine (used in games like Perfect World), containing encrypted textures and models. In this case, users must convert or extract the contents to JPG, TGA, or WAV to access the game assets.
Convert.Guru analyzes your PF file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert PF file to NF, F, ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, LZMA, CAB or ACE, you can use Microsoft Windows or similar software from the "System Optimization & Forensics" 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 PF, try Microsoft Windows or another comparable tool in the "System Optimization & Forensics" category.
The PF 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 PF converter.