Extract text from TRASHINFO files
To convert your TRASHINFO file to another format, you need GNOME Files or other System software.
To convert other file formats to the "Recovery Metadata File" file type, you need software like GNOME Files or a similar tool.
A .TRASHINFO file is a text-based metadata entry generated by Linux desktop environments - such as GNOME and KDE Plasma - that adhere to the Freedesktop.org Trash specification. When a user deletes a file, the system moves the actual data to a hidden files directory and simultaneously creates a .TRASHINFO file in an info directory to store the original file path and deletion timestamp.
The primary confusion with this format arises during data recovery or when sharing external drives between Linux and Windows/macOS. Users often mistake the .TRASHINFO file for the deleted content itself, only to find it is a few bytes in size and cannot be opened by image viewers or document editors. Furthermore, because it is a system file specific to Linux, double-clicking it on Windows often results in an "Unknown File Type" error. The file is effectively locked away from casual inspection unless the user knows how to force it open as text.
To access the contained metadata or process deletion logs, the best approach is to convert the file to TXT. This renders the Path= and DeletionDate= entries immediately readable in any basic editor like Notepad++ or TextEdit. For forensic analysis or digital archiving purposes where multiple deletion records must be indexed, converting .TRASHINFO files to JSON or CSV allows for structured data import into spreadsheet software or database systems.
Convert.Guru analyzes your TRASHINFO file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted UNKNOWN_75, NAMES, APPLE and DESC files.
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 TRASHINFO converter.