CRE File

What are CRE files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a CRE 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 CRE files.

What is a CRE file?

A .CRE file is an Infinity Engine Creature file.

Infinity Engine Creature files store data for creatures (NPCs, monsters, or party characters) used in the Infinity Engine games. They describe statistics such as hit points, armor class, saving throws, class and race attributes, resistances, alignment, sound and script references, known spells and memorized spells, items carried, and various status flags and identifiers. These files originate from games by BioWare and Interplay (e.g. Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment) and are used during gameplay to define creature behavior and capabilities.

Creation of creature files happens when the game or its tools generate new characters, such as during character creation, scripting events, or when loading game data. Modding tools and libraries outside the game also read and write them when customizing or inspecting content. Multiple on-disk file format versions exist for different games and expansions, including versions labelled 1.0, 1.2, 2.2, and 9.0. These versions affect the layout of the fixed-size header and variable-length subsections.

Each file begins with an 8-byte prefix combining a signature and the version identifier. This is followed by a fixed-width header block containing core creature attributes and a "section table" of offset/count pairs that point to its variable-length blocks (such as inventory, effects, spell lists). The header sizes differ by version: for example, version 1.0 has a 724-byte header, version 2.2 (used in Icewind Dale II) is about 1582 bytes, and version 9.0 is about 828 bytes.

How to open CRE files

Important: Different programs may use files with the CRE file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your CRE 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 CRE openers which you will find listed below.

Last updated: September 18, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

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