Extract text from pinned site shortcuts (WEBSITE)
To convert WEBSITE shortcuts to another format, you need Internet Explorer or other Web software.
To convert other file formats to the "Browser Shortcut" file type, you need software like Internet Explorer or a similar tool.
The .website file format is a legacy shortcut generated by Microsoft Internet Explorer when a user pinned a specific webpage to their Windows taskbar or Start menu. Under the hood, these files use a standard INI text structure to store the target URL, favicon cache paths, and jump list metadata.
The major disadvantage of the .website format is its strict dependency on a discontinued browser. It is a proprietary workaround that modern web browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox cannot process natively. If you try to double-click a .website file on a modern operating system, it often fails to open or triggers an error, rendering your saved bookmarks inaccessible.
To restore access to your saved links, you should convert these files to universally supported formats like standard URL shortcuts, HTML bookmark lists, or plain TXT documents. During this process, only the target web address is preserved, while legacy Windows taskbar metadata (like hover states or custom jump list tasks) is lost.
Since this file type relies on deprecated Windows Shell integration, many standard online tools cannot process it. However, convert.guru can still identify the file format, inspect the file, and show text or internal content. Just drag and drop your file to see what it is, view the raw INI text configuration, and safely extract the URL for modern use.
Convert.Guru analyzes your WEBSITE file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted HTML, DOCX, PDF, JPG, XNK, EXE, APP, TEXT, APA, MARKDOWN and EPUB files.
If you want to convert WEBSITE file to PDF, APP, TEXT, APA, MARKDOWN, EPUB, HTML, HTM, CSS, JS, PHP or ASP, you can use Internet Explorer or similar software from the "Web Bookmark Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert RSS, CSS, CGI, SITEMAP, PL, WEBMANIFEST, JSON, JS, XML, HTML, ICO or HTM files to WEBSITE, try Internet Explorer or another comparable tool in the "Web Bookmark 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 WEBSITE converter.