AIC File

What are AIC files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening an AIC 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 AIC files.

What is an AIC file?

An .AIC file is an Advanced Image Coding Bitmap file.

Advanced Image Coding Bitmap (imported as Advanced Image Coding bitmap) is a raster image format created by the AIC software developed by Erik van Bilsen's AudioVisuality. It stores photographic or graphic images in a compressed form that supports lossy compression using techniques similar to those in JPEG and JPEG-2000, allowing a trade-off between file size and image quality.

You obtain this format when you save or export an image using the AIC program on Windows. You choose a quality level, and the software compresses the image accordingly using its own codec. Such .AIC files are then opened and decompressed only by the AIC software (or possibly compatible tools) for viewing or further editing.

AIC uses a block-based compression algorithm with an 8×8 residual block Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), followed by uniform quantisation of all coefficients, then encoding using Context Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC).

Files begin with the ASCII signature AIC\n (bytes 0x41 0x49 0x43 0x0A at offset 0) identifying them uniquely.

How to open AIC files

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

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

Last updated: August 17, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

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