XDS Converter

Extract text from XDS files

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Drop or upload your .XDS file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your XDS file

Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your XDS file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert XDS to another file type

To convert your XDS file to another format, you need Test Drive Unlimited 2 or other Game software.

Convert a file to XDS

To convert other file formats to the "Serialization Data" file type, you need software like Test Drive Unlimited 2 or a similar tool.

About XDS files

The .XDS extension is an ambiguous container primarily used in game development, with nearly half of all files serving as serialized data for the MabStream library. These are binary files used to save game states or object hierarchies, rendering them unreadable in standard text editors. Another significant portion (approx. 27%) belongs to racing titles like Test Drive Unlimited 2 or Forza Horizon 5, where the file acts as a proprietary 3D model or texture package. A minority of .XDS files are standard XML-based datasets or legacy project files for Invisionsoft DS Game Maker.

The core friction users face is the format's binary nature; attempting to open a MabStream or TDU2 file in a text editor results in garbled data. Because these formats are heavily optimized for specific game engines, they lack interoperability.

Conversion Best Practices:

For Analysis: If the file is binary, convert to a Hex Dump or Text representation to inspect headers and identify the specific game engine.
For Data Use: If the file is the XML variant, convert to JSON, CSV, or XML for immediate integration with web applications or spreadsheets.
For Gaming: Proprietary asset files generally cannot be converted to standard image formats (like JPG or PNG) without specialized unpacking tools specific to the game title.

Convert.Guru analyzes your XDS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted XSD, LXDS, PDF, SCB, 28 and DPC files.

FAQ

If you want to convert XDS file to EXE, ISO, BIN, CUE, PAK, WAD, PK3, PK4, BSP, MAP, SAV or DAT, you can use Test Drive Unlimited 2 or similar software from the "Game Data Serialization" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert MOD, BIN, CFG, SCX, DAT, MPQ, LOG, CUE, INI, EXE, SCM or ISO files to XDS, try Test Drive Unlimited 2 or another comparable tool in the "Game Data Serialization" category.

The XDS Converter Story

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 XDS converter.