Extract text from SMS files
To convert your SMS file to another format, you need SMS Backup & Restore or other Backup software.
To convert other file formats to the "Mobile Data Archive" file type, you need software like SMS Backup & Restore or a similar tool.
The .sms extension represents a diverse group of file formats, most commonly serving as a Mobile Text Message Backup. These files are generated by Android applications like SMS Backup & Restore or desktop management tools like MyPhoneExplorer and the legacy Nokia PC Suite. While valuable for archiving personal history, legal records, or migrating data, the raw .sms format is often problematic for users because it is not natively readable by standard desktop text editors or web browsers. Depending on the originating software, the file might be a renamed XML document, a structured JSON file, or even a ZIP archive containing the actual message data. Older files from Sony Ericsson or Nokia devices may use proprietary binary encoding that is impossible to open without specific, obsolete drivers. Additionally, in the context of retro gaming, an .sms file can be a Sega Master System ROM, containing a dump of a game cartridge meant for use with emulators like Kega Fusion.
To make these files useful outside their original environment, users typically need to convert them. For mobile backups, the ideal target format is PDF for secure, printable archiving, or CSV/Excel for sorting and analyzing large message histories. If the goal is to restore messages to a new device, converting or extracting to standard XML is often required. For Sega ROMs, conversion is rarely needed unless patching the file, but verifying the file integrity via checksums is common.
Convert.Guru analyzes your SMS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted XML, TXT, MMS, SMSBACKUP, VMG, DB, ZIP, JPG, IB, ROM, VMSG, DAT and PDF files.
If you want to convert SMS file to RCS, PDF, TEXT, DATA, EMAIL, MMS, TXT, RTF, DOC, DOCX, ODT or PAGES, you can use SMS Backup & Restore or similar software from the "Mobile Message Backup" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert PDF, DOC, ASC, TODO, NFO, MEMO, README, DOCX, JPG, TXT, NOTE or RTF files to SMS, try SMS Backup & Restore or another comparable tool in the "Mobile Message Backup" 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 SMS converter.