CHX File

What are CHX files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a CHX 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 CHX files.

What is a CHX file?

A .CHX file is a CHX Font Format file.

CHX Font Format is a bitmap font format created for ZX-Editor Second Edition by OmikroN-Software. It is used within the ZX-Modules suite (especially ZX-Paintbrush and ZX-Editor) for "big fonts", allowing users to display and edit large, colour bitmap characters beyond the standard ZX Spectrum size. These files support up to 256 characters in a font, each character can be transparent or coloured, and each character's size can range from 1×1 to 4×4 times the ordinary Spectrum font size.

Fonts in this format are typically made using ZX-Paintbrush, which can create or load CHX files within its font editor mode. ZX-Editor Second Edition can utilise CHX files to display oversized and attribute-rich characters for text output. The CHX file encodes character pixel data and colour/attribute information, rather than being scalable outline vectors.

CHX files begin with the ASCII signature "CHX" followed by two zero bytes and then a fifth zero byte, at offset zero (bytes: 0x43 0x48 0x58 0x00 0x00).

How to open CHX files

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

While we have not verified the apps ourselves yet, our users have suggested nine different CHX 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 CHX files. Remember, different programs may use CHX 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 CHX file formats, example files, or compatible programs. Please use the links below or email us at submit@file.org to discuss further.