Extract text from PicoLog data files (PLW)
To convert PLW data files to another format, you need PicoLog or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Data Logging File" file type, you need software like PicoLog or a similar tool.
A .PLW file is a data logging file generated by PicoLog for Windows (or modern PicoLog 6 software). It stores voltage, temperature, and other physical sensor readings captured over time by Pico Technology data loggers and oscilloscopes. This file contains the raw, timestamped telemetry data collected during physical experiments or hardware monitoring sessions.
The main disadvantage of the .PLW format is that it is a closed, proprietary binary file. It is locked into the Pico Technology ecosystem. You cannot open it directly in standard spreadsheet tools like Microsoft Excel or statistical software like R or Python. This restriction creates a bottleneck when you need to share raw data with clients or perform custom data analysis. Users are forced to install the heavy PicoLog application just to view the data.
To make the data universally useful, you must convert .PLW to CSV or TXT. These plain-text formats are universally accepted. Note that converting to plain text extracts only the raw numerical datasets; any graphical charts generated by the PicoLog viewer will be lost.
Because this is a proprietary format, standard online converters often fail to process it. Often, only the original PicoLog software can properly read or export the data. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded text format, viewing or conversion may still be possible. Rarely, a .PLW file may also be a 32-bit Windows Plugin Module for IDA Pro by Hex-Rays, used in software reverse engineering.
Convert.Guru analyzes your PLW file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PICOLOG, PL and CSV files.
If you want to convert PLW file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use PicoLog or similar software from the "Sensor Data Logging Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to PLW, try PicoLog or another comparable tool in the "Sensor Data Logging Storage" 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 PLW converter.