XNC Converter

Extract text from NC drill files (XNC)


Drop or upload your .XNC file
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How to extract text from your XNC file

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

Convert XNC to another file type

To convert XNC Drill files to another format, you need KiCad or other Cad software.

Convert a file to XNC

To convert other file formats to the "PCB Manufacturing Drill File" file type, you need software like KiCad or a similar tool.


About XNC files

An .XNC file is an Exchange NC File used to store precise numerical control (NC) instructions - like X/Y coordinates and tool numbers - for drilling and routing Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Developed jointly by Ucamco, KiCad, and Pentalogix, it is typically viewed using CAD/CAM tools like GraphiCode GC-PowerPlace. The PCB manufacturing industry long relied on older Excellon formats that notoriously omitted decimal points and unit definitions (metric vs. imperial) to save disk space. While .XNC fixes these ambiguities as a strict, complete subset of IPC-NC-349, it remains a highly specialized machine-driver format. It cannot be natively opened by standard web browsers or image viewers, making it frustrating to share drill maps with non-engineers or clients for quick review. Converting .XNC to GBR (Gerber X2) is the optimal path for manufacturing, as the Gerber format is technically superior and perfectly integrates drill and copper data. For visual inspection or sharing, converting the toolpaths to PDF or DXF is highly recommended. Because this file format is essentially raw ASCII text, standard image converters cannot render the physical drill holes.

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


FAQ

If you want to convert XNC file to , you can use KiCad or similar software from the "PCB Drill & Rout Data" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert files to XNC, try KiCad or another comparable tool in the "PCB Drill & Rout Data" category.



The XNC 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 XNC converter.