Extract text from QuarkXPress tag files (XTG)
To convert XTG tag files to another format, you need QuarkXPress or other Text software.
To convert other file formats to the "Formatted Markup Language File" file type, you need software like QuarkXPress or a similar tool.
The .XTG file extension is most commonly associated with QuarkXPress Tags formatted text. Developed for QuarkXPress, this proprietary text format uses a complex markup language to store typography settings, style sheets, tracking, and paragraph formatting alongside the raw text. This allows designers to import highly formatted text from external editors directly into QuarkXPress layouts without losing the design attributes. In rare scientific contexts, .XTG is also used as an Extensible TreeGraph File created by Ben Stöver for phylogenetic tree editing.
Users often need to convert .XTG files because they are incredibly difficult to read outside of professional desktop publishing software. While they are essentially plain text (often encoded in UTF-16 LE), opening them in a standard text editor reveals a chaotic mess of formatting tags rather than a clean, readable document. This makes reviewing or editing the text a frustrating experience for copywriters or clients who do not own a specialized software license.
The best target formats for a QuarkXPress Tags file are TXT (for raw text recovery, stripping the tags), RTF, or DOCX (if the formatting needs to be preserved). However, because the markup language is proprietary to Quark Software Inc., standard online converters generally fail to process these tags correctly. Translating Quark-specific styles into Microsoft Word styles usually requires native export from the original software.
Despite these challenges, you can drag and drop your .XTG file into convert.guru to instantly identify the format, view the internal text structure, and extract the raw content. If our analysis detects standard plain text or XML underneath, we will help you convert it to a more accessible format immediately.
Convert.Guru analyzes your XTG file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted QXP, QXD and QDT files.
If you want to convert XTG file to INDD, QXP, PUB, PMD, PM6, PM7, PM8, PM9, PM10, PM11, OMP or P65, you can use QuarkXPress or similar software from the "Desktop Publishing Text Transfer" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MDI, PUB, PDP, PM4, P65, COMIC, WEBTEMPLATE, PMD, SPUB, INDD, PM5 or QXP files to XTG, try QuarkXPress or another comparable tool in the "Desktop Publishing Text Transfer" 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 XTG converter.