SPO File

What are SPO files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a SPO 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 SPO files.

What is a SPO file?

A .SPO file is a SPSS Output Document file.

The SPSS Output Document (.spo) is a legacy file format used by older versions of SPSS (through version 15, released around 2006) to save the results of analyses such as tables, charts, statistical test output, section headings, and other text generated during a session. These files are produced by SPSS when the program's Output or Viewer window is used to display results from data analyses. They serve as containers for all output linked to a particular analytical session and let users review results, including nested sections via an Outline or Navigation tree.

The SPO files are created by SPSS itself and are read by the SPSS Viewer (also known as SmartViewer or Legacy Viewer) included with SPSS versions up to 15. Beginning with SPSS version 16 (2007), SPSS stopped writing .spo files and adopted a new format with the extension .spv. SPSS 16 and later versions do not open .spo files natively; a separate Legacy Viewer utility is required to view older .spo files.

Internally, a .spo file is a binary container using the Microsoft OLE2 Compound Document format (also known as Compound File Binary Format, the same as older Microsoft Office formats like .doc and .xls). The file begins with the magic byte sequence D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1 at offset 0. Within the compound file's streams, it stores serialized SPSS output objects including pivot tables, chart graphics (Windows Metafiles or Device-Independent Bitmaps), and formatted text blocks. Key internal keywords include strings such as "SPSS OUTPUT DOCUMENT", "NAVTREEVIEWITEM", "DSPSIMPLETEXT", "DSPSTRING", "COLORTBL", "NAVHEAD", "NAVROOT", "TITLE", "MODEL", and "C'O'N'T'E'N'T'S".

How to open SPO files

We have identified one SPO opener that is compatible with this specific type of SPO file.

Programs that open SPSS Output Document files

Last updated: August 13, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

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