Extract text from Valve data files (VDF)
To convert VDF data files to another format, you need Steam or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Steam Configuration File" file type, you need software like Steam or a similar tool.
The .VDF (Valve Data Format) file primarily acts as a configuration, metadata, or install script file for the Steam platform and Source engine games developed by Valve Corporation. It uses a proprietary "KeyValues" text-based hierarchy to store everything from user login data and Steam Auto-Cloud parameters to controller mappings and game installation sequences. Alternatively, the .VDF extension is used as a data archive format in the Gothic game engine by Piranha Bytes, or as a plugin filter for VirtualDub.
Working with .VDF files outside of the Steam ecosystem presents immediate challenges. Because Valve's KeyValues format is proprietary, standard web tools, databases, and scripting languages do not support it natively. This makes bulk editing game metadata, creating custom mods, or analyzing Steam configurations highly frustrating. If you attempt to load a .VDF into a standard database or web app, the strict, non-standard bracket structure becomes a roadblock.
To make this data usable, conversion is required. For web integration, API usage, and general scripting, convert your .VDF to JSON. For enterprise databases or complex data mapping, convert to XML or CSV. For basic reading, a standard TXT file works best. If you are dealing with a Gothic VDF archive, you will need to extract the contents rather than perform a direct text conversion.
Convert.Guru analyzes your VDF file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted CITK2SAVE, SAV, VCF, TXT, PDF, JPG, SGD, XML, DOCX, RAR, BIN, PAK and RDF files.
If you want to convert VDF file to JSON, CSV, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use Steam or similar software from the "Game Configuration and Data" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to VDF, try Steam or another comparable tool in the "Game Configuration and Data" 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 VDF converter.