ABC File

What are ABC files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening an ABC file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your ABC files.

What is an ABC file?

ABC files have multiple uses, and ABC FlowCharter document is one of them. Read more about the other uses further down the page.

ABC FlowCharter document

ABC FlowCharter is a flowchart program created by Micrografx launched in 1995. This application is used to make, edit and print flow diagrams and organization charts, and these documents are saved as .ABC files. It combined the ABC Toolkit from Micrografx with other tools and templates to create a unique flowchart program. Making use of intelligent line routing, the software automatically routes connecting lines around other shapes. This made for an easy-to-use and visually appealing flowchart application. The newest version of the software is now known as iGrafx FlowCharter.

How to open ABC files

Important: Different programs may use files with the ABC file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your ABC file is, you may need to try a few different programs.

While we have not verified the apps ourselves yet, our users have suggested ten different ABC openers which you will find listed below.

Last updated: August 16, 2026

All known file formats using extension .ABC

While ABC FlowCharter document is a popular type of ABC-file, we know of 4 different uses of the .ABC file extension. Different software may use files with the same extension for different types of data.

ABC notation

Making use of ASCII values, the ABC notation is a text-based musical notation format. This format is mostly used for traditional or folk music. ABC notation uses the letters A to G to represent notes and uses symbols and numbers to represent the length, sharps, ornaments, flats, etc. It is crucial that every ABC file starts with the string "%abc". The file consists of three parts, the header, the tune header, and the tune body. The header contains the typesetting and stylesheet. The tune header holds the metadata and other information like the type of key and the next tune's note length. The tune body consists mostly out of the ABC music code. Adding these 3 parts together gives us the final ABC notation file.

Alembic Open Computer Graphics Exchange

Alembic Open Computer Graphics Exchange (.abc) is an open, application-independent file format for 3D scenes and animation data. It is used to store complex, animated geometry (such as meshes, subdivision surfaces, curves, NURBS, particles), as well as animated transforms and camera or light placements. It is designed for hand-off between different tools or studios, especially when scenes have been fully "baked" (computed) and you want just the resulting shapes and motion rather than the procedural history.

These .abc files are produced by export tools in 3D content creation or visual-effects software once animation, simulation or deformation has been resolved. Because the file format focuses on storing geometry and motion data, it does not include rigging dependency graphs or procedural tool networks themselves. Once an Alembic file is created, other compatible applications can import it to render the baked results, assemble scenes, or further process geometry and animation without needing the original source setup.

Technically Alembic supports two underlying storage back-ends: Ogawa (introduced later) and HDF5 (original). Modern .abc files often use Ogawa for efficient multi-threaded reading, smaller file size, and improved performance. The Ogawa format begins with a 16-byte header: bytes 0 - 4 are ASCII "Ogawa", byte 5 is a frozen flag (0x00 if writing, 0xFF if properly closed), bytes 6-7 are format version (currently 0x00, 0x01), and bytes 8 - 15 provide the offset to the root group in little-endian form.

LEADTOOLS ABC bitmap

A LEADTOOLS ABC bitmap file is a black-and-white (bitonal) image created using LEADTOOLS' Advanced Bitonal Compression (ABC) technology. It stores 1-bit-per-pixel images (each pixel either black or white), compressed more efficiently than standard formats like CCITT Group 4 or JBIG2. Its purpose is to save and transmit scanned documents, manuals, books, checks, or any purely bi-level content in much smaller size while retaining lossless fidelity (unless specifically using the optional lossy mode).

The format is produced and used by the LEADTOOLS SDK, particularly via its Raster-Codecs component. Applications using LEADTOOLS can both write and read ABC-compressed files, and LEADTOOLS additionally supports embedding ABC compression inside single-page or multi-page TIFF containers. The "QualityFactor" setting can be used to choose among available modes, including both lossless and certain lossy compression options.

As a technical identifier, ABC bitmap files begin with the ASCII signature ABC1 at the start of the file (bytes 0x41 0x42 0x43 0x31).

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of ABC files. Remember, different programs may use ABC files for different purposes, so you may need to try out a few of them to be able to open your specific file.

Help us help others

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