BINDS File

What are BINDS files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a BINDS 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 BINDS files.

What is a BINDS file?

A .BINDS file is an Elite: Dangerous Controls Bindings file.

Elite: Dangerous controls bindings files are presets that store how all input actions are mapped to keys, buttons, axes, mice or controllers in the game Elite: Dangerous from Frontier Developments. These files record which device and which input is used for each game action, including primary and secondary inputs, modifiers, analog axes, toggle options and deadzones. Players use them to customise controls and switch between control schemes or share them.

These presets are produced by the game itself when the player adjusts controls via the in-game settings menus. They can also be copied or edited externally (they are plain text XML files) so that new custom presets show up in-game under a new name. The game stores them in the user's bindings folder within Windows' Local Application Data. The Root element in each file has attributes such as PresetName, MajorVersion and MinorVersion that correspond with the filename. The displayed name of the preset in the game is taken from the PresetName.

Files are encoded in XML. The header begins with the XML declaration (<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>) followed by a Root element containing wide lists of action-specific elements, e.g. <SelectTarget> or <DeployHardpointsOnFire>, each defining Primary and Secondary binding elements with Device and Key attributes. Other tags include Device mappings (such as Keyboard, Mouse, or specific HID controller VID/PID entries), axes settings with Value, Inverted or Deadzone flags, and options like ToggleOn.

How to open BINDS files

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

We have not yet verified any programs for Windows that work with this specific file format. If you know one, please use the 'Suggest a program' link below. Thanks!

Last updated: August 24, 2026

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