REF Converter

Extract text from REF files

Select File
Drop or upload your .REF file

Online File Converter

✈

How to extract text from your REF file

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

Convert REF to another file type

To convert your REF file to another format, you need Racelogic VBOX Test Suite or other Data software.

REF to JPG
REF to PDF
REF to BIBTEX
REF to SHP
REF to KML
REF to KMZ
REF to GPX
REF to GEOJSON
REF to TOPOJSON
REF to TIF
REF to TIFF
REF to ECW

Convert a file to REF

To convert other file formats to the "CAN Bus Database" file type, you need software like Racelogic VBOX Test Suite or a similar tool.

LAZ to REF
KMZ to REF
DTM to REF
CSV to REF
DEM to REF
PRJ to REF
LAS to REF
GPX to REF
DSM to REF
SHP to REF
DBF to REF
KML to REF

About REF files

The .REF extension is a "container" format used by over a dozen different industries, making it difficult to open without knowing its origin. The most common use (30%) is a Racelogic CAN Database file used in automotive testing. These are binary files that define how to decode vehicle telemetry (speed, RPM, brake pressure) recorded by VBOX systems. A major limitation for engineers is that these files are often encrypted or locked to a specific device serial number, preventing them from being opened in third-party CAN tools like Vector CANalyzer.

The second most common type (24%) is a Patient Referral Message generated by Best Practice Software in healthcare settings. These contain HL7 (Health Level 7) structured text used to transfer patient data between clinics. While they are technically text files, the pipe-delimited format (|) makes them unreadable to humans without conversion.

Conversion Recommendations:

For Automotive Data (Racelogic): You cannot "convert" the .REF file directly to Excel. Instead, use VBOX Test Suite to load the .REF file, decode your log data (.VBO), and then export the results to CSV or MAT (Matlab).
For Medical Records (HL7): Convert to PDF for a readable, legally compliant archive, or TXT to view the raw segment data.
For Citations (MyBib): These are often JSON files. Rename to JSON or convert to BibTeX for use in LaTeX.

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

Users also converted REFERENCE, PUR, RTF, REP, RAF, ZIP, RIS, DBC, EDM, ENW, PDF, TXT and DOCX files.

The REF 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 REF converter.