BAR File

What are BAR files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a BAR 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 BAR files.

What is a BAR file?

BAR files have multiple uses, and Blackberry Playbook Program is one of them. Read more about the other uses further down the page.

Blackberry Playbook Program

The .bar file extension is mainly used on files for the BlackBerry Operating System (BB OS) 10. These files contain application installation packages.

QNX Momentics Tool Suite is an all-inclusive, eclipse-based development environment you can use to create these BAR application files.

How to open BAR files

Important: Different programs may use files with the BAR file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your BAR 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 BAR openers which you will find listed below.

Last updated: August 23, 2026

All known file formats using extension .BAR

While Blackberry Playbook Program is a popular type of BAR-file, we know of 3 different uses of the .BAR file extension. Different software may use files with the same extension for different types of data.

FileStar/2 ToolBar

FileStar/2 ToolBar files store the configuration of the button-toolbar used by FileStar/2, a graphical file manager for the OS/2 operating system. They define which buttons appear in the toolbar (button bar), the actions those buttons trigger, and possibly their icon layout and order.

These files are produced and read exclusively by FileStar/2. When the toolbar layout is customized (adding, removing, or rearranging toolbar buttons), FileStar/2 writes out a ToolBar file to save those settings. On startup or when switching toolbar profiles, FileStar/2 loads the matching ToolBar file to recreate the toolbar appearance and behavior chosen by the user.

Internally, the beginning of the file includes a fixed byte signature: at offset 0 there is the sequence 0x9B A0 C1 53 01 00 00 00. This signature identifies the file as FileStar/2 ToolBar format.

Total Commander Button Bar Configuration

Total Commander Button Bar Configuration files store the layout and actions of a custom toolbar (called the Button Bar) in the Total Commander file manager for Windows. They let users define which buttons appear in the toolbar, which icons they use, which command each button runs, tooltips (labels), and how many buttons in total. This arrangement makes it easy to launch programs or built-in Total Commander commands via clicks in the toolbar.

The program that writes and reads these files is Total Commander. When a user configures or edits the Button Bar (via Configuration → Button bar… or Change Buttonbar), the current state of the toolbar is saved to such a file. Total Commander displays or switches button bars by loading a selected configuration file. Users may manually edit the file in a text editor to tweak or add buttons, sub-bars, separators, labels or commands. Button bars can also include links to other .bar files, allowing nested sub-menus.

Internally, the file is a plain text INI-style format. It begins with a section header "[Buttonbar]", then a "Buttoncount=" line giving the total number of buttons. For each button from 1 up to that count there are fields prefixed by "buttonN=" (path to icon, possibly with index inside icon library), "cmdN=" (the command or path of executable to run), "iconicN=" (flag for icon display), and "menuN=" (tooltip or menu label). These lines appear in ASCII encoding, with the specific signature "[Buttonbar]…Buttoncount=" at the very start of the file.

Various apps that use files with this extension

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