BIC File

What are BIC files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a BIC 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 BIC files.

What is a BIC file?

A .BIC file is a Chess Assistant Dataset file.

Chess Assistant Dataset files store collections of chess games, positions, analyses and related metadata in a proprietary binary format used by the commercial database program Chess Assistant. They are used as internal "dataset" or "base" files to hold large numbers of games (with player names, event tags, result, moves, etc.), often together with engine evaluations, opening trees, and annotations, so that searches, statistics, variation browsing and other chess study operations perform efficiently.

The format is written and read by Chess Assistant; the program creates new dataset files from imported PGN/EPD files or by converting other database formats. Once created, Chess Assistant opens and uses them for querying, listing games, building trees of variations, and presenting them in the user interface. The datasets are optimized for performance (fast search, indexing) rather than for human-readability.

These dataset files are specific to Chess Assistant - not to be confused with other uses of the same extension by unrelated programs. The format is identified by a text header at the very start (byte signature): it begins with the ASCII string *ChessAssistantDatasetFile.Version at offset zero. Alternative extensions ("alias") used for this same format include BID, BIM, BIS.

How to open BIC files

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

While we have not verified the app ourselves yet, our users have suggested a single BIC opener which you will find listed below.

Last updated: August 24, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

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

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