Extract text from Compiled material files (VMAT_C)
To convert VMAT_C Compiled materials to another format, you need Source 2 Engine or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Compiled Material Asset" file type, you need software like Source 2 Engine or a similar tool.
A .vmat_c file is a compiled material asset used by the Source 2 game engine, developed by Valve Corporation. These files dictate how surfaces appear in modern games like Half-Life: Alyx, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike 2. They define physical and visual properties such as base color, normal maps, roughness, and metalness. Officially, these files are read exclusively by the game engine during runtime. To open or decompile them, modders rely on specialized community tools like the Source 2 Resource Viewer (VRF) or Valve's official Workshop Tools.
The main disadvantage of the .vmat_c format is that it is a proprietary, compiled binary. You cannot open it in standard image editors like Adobe Photoshop or 3D modeling software like Blender. Standard online converters will fail to process it because it requires specific engine decompression algorithms to read the data correctly. Users typically need to convert a .vmat_c file by decompiling it back into its raw, editable text-based VMAT format, or by extracting the referenced textures into standard formats like PNG or TGA for use in other engines.
Because this is a closed format heavily tied to Valve's architecture, viewing and conversion can be frustrating. Often, only the original engine or reverse-engineered modding tools can properly export the data. Our analysis will inspect the file structure, extract any visible metadata or underlying text, and help you determine the best path forward for your game modding workflow.
Convert.Guru analyzes your VMAT_C file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted VTEX_C, VMAT, VMT and JPG files.
If you want to convert VMAT_C file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use Source 2 Engine or similar software from the "Game Engine Material Storage" 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 VMAT_C, try Source 2 Engine or another comparable tool in the "Game Engine Material 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 VMAT_C converter.