Extract text from SXF files
To convert your SXF file to another format, you need GIS Panorama or other GIS software.
To convert other file formats to the "Cartographic Data Exchange" file type, you need software like GIS Panorama or a similar tool.
The .SXF extension primarily identifies the Storage and eXchange Format, a binary geospatial vector format developed for GIS Panorama. It serves as the standard open exchange format for digital cartographic data in Russia and CIS countries, complying with Russian government standards (GOST). These files store complex vector layers, attributes, and coordinate data. A secondary, unrelated use of the extension is for Steganos Password Manager data files, which utilize .sxf to store encrypted user credentials and profile information.
Working with GIS .sxf files outside of the Panorama ecosystem presents significant friction. Standard Western GIS platforms like ArcGIS or QGIS do not natively support the format without specific drivers (like GDAL) or third-party plugins. Users frequently encounter issues with proprietary coordinate systems (often based on the Krassovsky 1940 ellipsoid) and character encoding (Cyrillic CP1251), resulting in misaligned maps or garbled text labels. For Steganos users, the file is a proprietary "black box" - without the specific version of Steganos Privacy Suite that created it, the data is inaccessible.
To make the data usable, GIS professionals should convert .SXF to widely supported open standards. For web mapping, convert to GeoJSON or KML. For analysis in standard GIS software, the ESRI Shapefile (.SHP) is the most reliable target. For CAD workflows, DXF is preferred. Steganos users looking to migrate data must usually open the file in the original software and export to CSV or XML, as direct file conversion of encrypted archives is generally impossible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your SXF file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted RSC, XSB, TAB, WOR and SAM files.
If you want to convert SXF file to SHP, KML, KMZ, GPX, GEOJSON, TOPOJSON, TIF, TIFF, ECW, SID, IMG or DEM, you can use GIS Panorama or similar software from the "Geospatial Vector Map Exchange" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert LAZ, KMZ, DTM, CSV, DEM, PRJ, LAS, GPX, DSM, SHP, DBF or KML files to SXF, try GIS Panorama or another comparable tool in the "Geospatial Vector Map Exchange" 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 SXF converter.