AD File

What are AD files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening an AD 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 AD files.

What is an AD file?

AD files have multiple uses, and Anno Designer layout is one of them. Read more about the other uses further down the page.

Anno Designer layout

AD files contain maps and building layouts created with Anno Designer, a software tool used to design buildings for the Ubisoft Anno game series. You then import them into your Anno series game. The Anno series is a city-building game that takes place in the Renaissance period. You find this game on Pc, but recently some handheld devices have access to the game. The Anno designer supports the following game versions: Anno 1404, Anno 2070, Anno 2205, and Anno 1800.

How to open AD files

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

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

Last updated: August 17, 2026

All known file formats using extension .AD

While Anno Designer layout is a popular type of AD-file, we know of 2 different uses of the .AD file extension. Different software may use files with the same extension for different types of data.

Mac AppleDouble Encoded

Mac AppleDouble Encoded files store the extra Mac-specific parts of a file, e.g. the resource fork, Finder metadata, and extended attributes, separately from the main file's data fork. These files are created when files from a Mac need to be kept complete on systems or filesystems that don't support all Mac file features directly. They preserve things like custom icons, creator/type IDs, comments, and other metadata that ordinary filesystems would drop.

A Mac program or the operating system writes an AppleDouble Encoded file alongside the main file when copying, archiving, or sharing across filesystems (e.g. network shares or FAT/NFS) that do not support dual forks or full Mac metadata. When those are later accessed on a Mac, the system can read that sidecar file and restore or present the full file as originally intended, combining its data and metadata again.

An AppleDouble Encoded file always starts with the magic bytes 00 05 16 07 at the very beginning (offset 0x0). That signature differentiates it from the closely-related AppleSingle format (which has a different magic value).

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of AD files. Remember, different programs may use AD 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 AD file formats, example files, or compatible programs. Please use the links below or email us at submit@file.org to discuss further.