RCH Converter

Extract text from Reach output files (RCH)


Drop or upload your .RCH file
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How to extract text from your RCH file

  1. Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your RCH file.
  2. You’ll see a preview, if available.
  3. Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert RCH to another file type

To convert RCH Output files to another format, you need Autodesk ReCap or other Data software.

Convert a file to RCH

To convert other file formats to the "Simulation Output & Cache" file type, you need software like Autodesk ReCap or a similar tool.


About RCH files

The .RCH file extension primarily functions as either a Hydrological Model Reach Output for the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) or a temporary Point Cloud Cache file generated by Autodesk ReCap. In hydrology, SWAT uses this format to store raw, columnar output variables for simulated river basins. For 3D modeling, Autodesk ReCap relies on .RCH files to cache point cloud data while processing massive laser scans. A rare third usage associates it with Ren'Py game development. Users frequently need to convert these files because standard software cannot read them natively. SWAT .RCH files contain dense scientific data that is difficult to parse without specialized tools. Autodesk ReCap .RCH files present different disadvantages: they are entirely proprietary, often exceed 10GB in size, and require costly subscriptions to open. They are functionally locked into the Autodesk ecosystem and cannot be opened by standard web browsers or generic 3D viewers. If you have a SWAT output file, the best conversion targets are standard CSV or XLSX formats for data analysis in Microsoft Excel. Converting ReCap cache files is practically impossible because they are temporary processing files, not final 3D models like LAS or PTS. This file format is difficult to open or convert because it is either highly domain-specific text or proprietary encrypted cache. Often, only the original software can properly read or export the data. Standard online converters fail because they lack the parsing logic for SWAT or the proprietary decryption for Autodesk. Just drag and drop your file into convert.guru to identify the format, view its internal text structure, and convert it when possible. If our analysis detects an underlying raw text structure, viewing or data extraction may still be possible.

Convert.Guru analyzes your RCH file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted GPX, PHC and CDS files.


FAQ

If you want to convert RCH file to , you can use Autodesk ReCap or similar software from the "Hydrological Data & 3D Caches" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert files to RCH, try Autodesk ReCap or another comparable tool in the "Hydrological Data & 3D Caches" category.



The RCH 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 RCH converter.