Extract text from QuakeWorld demos (QWD)
To convert QWD demos to another format, you need QuakeWorld or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Game Demo File" file type, you need software like QuakeWorld or a similar tool.
A .QWD file is a game replay file generated by QuakeWorld, the highly influential multiplayer client for the 1996 first-person shooter Quake by id Software. Instead of recording actual video pixels, this file captures the raw network stream of the game session. It records player coordinates, weapon firing events, and object movements. You need a compatible Quake engine port, such as ezQuake or nQuake, to open and replay the data in real-time.
The primary disadvantage of the .QWD format is that it is strictly proprietary and highly dependent on external assets. To view the file, the engine must load the exact BSP map file and server settings used during the original match. Because it is not a media file, you cannot simply upload a .QWD file to YouTube or play it in a standard media player.
Users typically want to convert .QWD to common video formats like MP4, AVI, or MKV to share gameplay footage. However, this format is notoriously difficult to convert. Standard online converters fail to process it because it contains binary network instructions, not video frames. Only the original 3D engine can properly read the data and export it as video. Our analysis can often extract plain text metadata - such as server names, player chat logs, and map data - even without the game engine installed.
Convert.Guru analyzes your QWD file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert QWD file to EXE, ISO, BIN, CUE, PAK, WAD, PK3, PK4, BSP, MAP, SAV or DAT, you can use QuakeWorld or similar software from the "Game Replay Recording" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MOD, BIN, CFG, SCX, DAT, MPQ, LOG, CUE, INI, EXE, SCM or ISO files to QWD, try QuakeWorld or another comparable tool in the "Game Replay Recording" 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 QWD converter.