ABF File

What are ABF files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening an ABF 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 ABF files.

What is an ABF file?

An .ABF file is an Altair Binary Format file.

Altair Binary Format (extension .abf) is a binary data file format created by Altair Engineering to hold plot results and simulation data for fast viewing and post-processing. It is produced by the MotionSolve and related Altair tools when they run a model and output results using binary plot settings. The main purpose of .abf files is to store large sets of time-series data or curve data (for instance displacement, velocity, acceleration) so that it can be efficiently plotted in Altair HyperGraph or analyzed in MotionView.

Files in this format are generated via the Altair "abflib" library or by enabling "Altair Binary Format (.abf)" as the output type in a solver or plot export. Once created, the files are used by HyperGraph, MotionView, or other Altair post-processing tools. These tools read the .abf to display plots, extract curves, or perform further custom processing using the data organized by Type, Request, and Component hierarchies.

Technical identifiers inside the file include a header with metadata such as version information, the number of data types, requests, and components, and whether values are stored as integers or floating-point numbers (default is double precision). The file typically begins with the ASCII string "MOTIONPLOTEXTERNALXYREADER" at byte offset 0 to identify it as linked to the external XY reader template. It also contains internal keywords like BNRY, SECONDS, Time, and Time(Seconds) at specific byte offsets which further mark its structure.

How to open ABF files

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

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

Last updated: August 16, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of ABF files. Remember, different programs may use ABF 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

File.org helps thousands of users every day, and we would love to hear from you if you have additional information about ABF file formats, example files, or compatible programs. Please use the links below or email us at submit@file.org to discuss further.