Extract text from Timeline files (TL)
To convert TL Timelines to another format, you need Tiki-Toki Desktop or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Timeline Project File" file type, you need software like Tiki-Toki Desktop or a similar tool.
If you are struggling with a .tl file, you are likely dealing with one of three very different formats, creating a confusing landscape for users.
The most common variant is a project file from Tiki-Toki Desktop, an interactive timeline creator. These files (often ZIP-compressed archives) encapsulate your timeline's images, text, and configuration. The problem is that .tl files are proprietary to the software; you cannot open them in a web browser or send them to a client who doesn't own the desktop application. To make these shareable, users typically need to convert the timeline view to a static PDF or export the raw data to CSV or JSON for use in other tools.
However, if you are an audio engineer using Adobe Audition, the .tl file on your drive is simply a timeline cache file. These are automatically generated to speed up waveform display. A major issue for users is finding these files taking up disk space and trying to "open" them to recover audio - this is impossible, as they contain no actual audio data, only temporary system references.
Finally, in industrial contexts, a .tl file might be an XML-based ThermalLabel definition used by Neodynamic SDKs. These are raw code files describing barcode labels. The conversion goal here is strictly visualization: rendering the XML code into a visible PNG, JPG, or PDF label for proofing without running the code.
Convert.Guru analyzes your TL file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PLO, STAT, HED and CDN files.
If you want to convert TL file to CDN, you can use Tiki-Toki Desktop or similar software from the "Interactive Timeline Project" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to TL, try Tiki-Toki Desktop or another comparable tool in the "Interactive Timeline Project" 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 TL converter.