Extract text from Windows backup archives (QIC)
To convert QIC backups to another format, you need Windows Backup or other Backup software.
To convert other file formats to the "Tape Backup Archive" file type, you need software like Windows Backup or a similar tool.
A .QIC file is a legacy backup archive originally designed to store compressed file sets onto magnetic tapes. It was heavily utilized in the 1990s by early operating systems like Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows 98 using the built-in Microsoft Backup utility. Enterprise environments also created these files using third-party tape backup solutions like Veritas Backup Exec.
The massive disadvantage of the .QIC format today is its severe obsolescence. It relies on outdated compression algorithms and legacy software dependencies that simply do not run on modern 64-bit operating systems. Standard archive extraction tools like WinRAR or 7-Zip cannot parse the headers or decompress these files. Furthermore, .QIC files are prone to corruption; a single corrupted block can render the entire tape backup unreadable.
Users typically want to extract the trapped contents of a .QIC file and convert the container into a modern standard like ZIP or TAR. More often, the goal is to recover the raw DOCX, XLSX, and JPG files buried inside.
Because .QIC is a closed, proprietary, and obsolete format, standard online converters will fail to process it. Often, only the original legacy software running inside an emulator or virtual machine can properly read or export the data. However, convert.guru can still identify the file format, inspect the file, and show text or internal content. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible. Drag and drop your file to see what it is and convert it if supported.
Convert.Guru analyzes your QIC file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted QIF, COPY0, TRN and BDB files.
If you want to convert QIC file to BAK, BACKUP, OLD, TMP, TEMP, ARC, ZIP, TAR, GZ, 7Z, RAR or ISO, you can use Windows Backup or similar software from the "Legacy Tape Backup Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SNAPSHOT, OLD, IMG, RESTORE, ISO, COPY, VMDK, TMP, VHD, BAK, ARCHIVE or BACKUP files to QIC, try Windows Backup or another comparable tool in the "Legacy Tape Backup 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 QIC converter.