BPS File

What are BPS files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a BPS 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 BPS files.

What is a BPS file?

A .BPS file is a Binary Patching System Patch file.

Binary Patching System Patch files hold a description of how to transform one binary file (called the source) into another (called the target). They serve for distributing differences between binary files - such as ROMs or firmware - without distributing the full content of the modified file.

Creation begins by comparing a specific source file with a specific target file. The patch file is generated by a tool implementing the BPS specification such as byuu's beat. The patch file encodes commands that, when applied by a compatible patcher, rebuild the target file exactly from the source. It includes metadata, file-size information, and checksums to ensure correctness.

The specification is open source and public domain, designed by byuu. It supports files of any size via variable-length integer encoding, allows copying of data from the source or data inserted in the patch, copying from already reconstructed parts of the target, and verifies integrity through CRC32 checksums.

Patch files begin with the ASCII marker BPS1 at offset zero. After that comes variable-length integers for the source size, the target size, and optionally metadata size followed by metadata. Then a stream of actions - SourceRead, TargetRead, SourceCopy, or TargetCopy - each indicating how many bytes to read or copy and from where. The file ends with three CRC32 values: the checksum of the source file, the checksum of the reconstructed target, and the checksum of the patch file itself.

How to open BPS files

Important: Different programs may use files with the BPS file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your BPS 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 BPS openers 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 BPS files. Remember, different programs may use BPS 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 BPS file formats, example files, or compatible programs. Please use the links below or email us at submit@file.org to discuss further.