Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your SDF file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert SDF to another file type
To convert SDF databases to another format, you need Microsoft SQL Server or other Database software.
Convert a file to SDF
To convert other file formats to the "Relational Database File" file type, you need software like Microsoft SQL Server or a similar tool.
About SDF files
The .SDF file extension is highly ambiguous, most commonly functioning as a Microsoft SQL Server Compact Database. These binary files store complete relational databases for mobile and desktop Windows applications. However, in engineering and scientific fields, an .SDF might also be an Autodesk Spatial Data Format file storing massive geospatial datasets, or an MDL Structure-Data File containing atomic coordinates for chemical molecules. To open a database .SDF, developers historically relied on Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio or legacy versions of Visual Studio. Autodesk's spatial version requires AutoCAD Map 3D, while chemical data files can be visualized using open-source tools like Avogadro. Users face severe challenges when handling .SDF files today. Microsoft officially deprecated SQL Server Compact in 2013, making it notoriously difficult to open these files on modern machines without hunting down legacy drivers. Furthermore, database .SDF files have a hard 4GB size limit and do not support stored procedures. On the spatial side, Autodesk's format requires expensive, specialized GIS software, while chemical .SDF files are ASCII text but practically illegible to humans without a rendering engine. For data extraction, convert your Microsoft .SDF database tables to CSV or SQL files for universal accessibility. For GIS data, convert Autodesk spatial files to GeoJSON or SHP. For chemistry, target SMILES or MOL formats.
Convert.Guru analyzes your SDF file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted SFD, SDFDATA, SDIF, ZIP, SDFA, MOL2, PDF, SDFS, SDFZ, MOL, TXT, CSV and JPG files.
FAQ
If you want to convert SDF file to PDB, PDF, CSV, SHP, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG or CONF, you can use Microsoft SQL Server or similar software from the "Compact Relational Database 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 SDF, try Microsoft SQL Server or another comparable tool in the "Compact Relational Database Storage" category.
The SDF 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 SDF converter.