CBV File

What are CBV files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a CBV 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 CBV files.

What is a CBV file?

A .CBV file is a ChessBase Archive file.

ChessBase archive files bundle together all the pieces of a working ChessBase database into a single, compressed backup or transport file. They are created by ChessBase (and related programs such as Fritz), to collect the many files that make up a database - including game moves, metadata (players, tournaments), annotations, indexes, keys, and multimedia - into just one file. The archive does not replace working database components until the archive is opened (restored), at which point it decompresses and reconstructs those files.

When a database is backed up this way, the original files are left unchanged during creation of the archive. To use the database again, the archive is opened via "Open Database" (or similar) in ChessBase or Fritz, and the archive file's component files are extracted - for example the .CBH header file, CBG for moves, CBA for annotations, CBC, CBG, CBH, CBP, CBT, CBS, and others - to restore full functionality. The process also supports optional encryption: ChessBase offers the ability to save an encrypted archive variant with a password; this variant uses the extension ".cbz" instead of the standard archive.

The format can be identified internally by a signature: it contains multiple ChessBase database component identifiers such as ".CBA", ".CBC", ".CBG", ".CBH", ".CBP", ".CBS", ".CBT", ".INI", and "ITLE". One signature is 0x0800 bytes at the start of the file.

How to open CBV files

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

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

Last updated: August 31, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of CBV files. Remember, different programs may use CBV 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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