Extract text from Compact ISO files (WBI)
To convert WBI ISO files to another format, you need Wii Backup Manager or other Disk Image software.
To convert other file formats to the "Compact Disc Image" file type, you need software like Wii Backup Manager or a similar tool.
The .WBI file format is a Compact ISO container designed to store compressed backups of Nintendo Wii games. Because standard Wii optical discs are padded with arbitrary "junk data" to reach a uniform 4.7GB (or 8.5GB for dual-layer) capacity, backing them up in a 1:1 format wastes significant storage space. The .WBI format solves this by actively stripping out the dummy padding blocks. This results in a much smaller footprint on your hard drive. The format is virtually identical to the more common CISO file type and is heavily utilized by desktop tools like Wii Backup Manager and Wiimms ISO Tools.
While it saves disk space, relying on the .WBI format today is highly impractical. It is an aging, unofficial format that modern homebrew communities have largely abandoned. Contemporary USB loaders and top-tier emulators like Dolphin favor more advanced formats like WBFS or RVZ. Additionally, .WBI files are completely unrecognized by native operating systems. You cannot mount a .WBI image in Windows, macOS, or Linux as you would with a standard ISO file, making direct access to the internal game files impossible without third-party extraction tools.
To reliably play or manage your backed-up games, you should convert the .WBI file to a standard format. Converting your file to an ISO image restores maximum compatibility, though it will reinflate the file to its original 4.7GB size. For real hardware playback via USB loaders, WBFS is the ideal target. For emulation on a PC, converting to RVZ is highly recommended.
Because .WBI is a closed, community-developed disk image format designed exclusively for Wii architecture, standard online file converters will always fail to process it. The files are not only structurally complex but also typically exceed several gigabytes, crashing browser-based tools. Usually, only the original backup software can properly read, extract, or export the enclosed game data. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your WBI file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert WBI file to ISO, IMG, DMG, VHD, VMDK, VDI, HDD, QCOW, QCOW2, RAW, VBOX or OVA, you can use Wii Backup Manager or similar software from the "Wii Game Backup Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert VFD, DMG, OVA, IMA, VBOX, ADF, PVS, VHD, OVF, ISO, DSK or IMG files to WBI, try Wii Backup Manager or another comparable tool in the "Wii Game Backup 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 WBI converter.