Extract text from Game sound banks (SOB)
To convert SOB Sound banks to another format, you need CryEngine or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Game Data File" file type, you need software like CryEngine or a similar tool.
The .sob file extension is heavily fragmented and primarily associated with proprietary game development, ROM hacking, and specialized diagnostic software. In CryEngine by Crytek, it functions as a Sound Object Bank containing compiled audio assets for in-game playback. Alternatively, ROM hackers encounter .sob files as Game Boy Advance object or sprite files modified using tools like Tile Layer Pro. It is also used by Eagle Dynamics DCS World for game engine scene objects, and by Stellantis diagnostic tools as XML-based automotive battery logs.
The main disadvantage of .sob files is their proprietary and undocumented nature. You cannot open a CryEngine sound bank or DCS World scene object in standard media players or 3D viewers. The files are essentially locked to their native engines, making the data inaccessible to general users. Standard online converters fail to process them because there is no universal specification; each software writes the binary data differently.
When conversion is necessary, targets depend entirely on the file's origin. Game audio should ideally be extracted to WAV or OGG. Game Boy Advance sprite files are best exported to PNG or BMP to retain pixel art grids without compression. Stellantis diagnostic logs, which utilize underlying XML, can be parsed into TXT or CSV for data analysis.
Because this file format is so difficult to open, often only the original software or community-built extraction scripts can properly export the data. However, you can drag and drop your file into convert.guru to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. Our platform inspects the raw binary or text data. If our analysis detects a supported underlying format - like standard XML or an unencrypted audio stream - viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your SOB file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted ODT, CTL, _VBXSLN80 and _VBXSLN90 files.
If you want to convert SOB file to JPG, PDF, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, TIF, WEBP, ICO, CUR, PSD or PSB, you can use CryEngine or similar software from the "Proprietary Game Asset Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert RAW, PNG, AI, NEF, PSB, DNG, SVG, GIF, EPS, JPG, ARW or PDF files to SOB, try CryEngine or another comparable tool in the "Proprietary Game Asset Storage" 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 SOB converter.