What is the BKUP file format?
A .bkup file, whose full name is Backup File, is used by various programs and scripts for creating and storing backup copies of data. It is a general naming convention not directly tied to any specific program - an alternate spelling of the long-standing .bak and .backup suffixes. The backed-up content may be any type of data, from important text documents and configuration files to database dumps and server logs.
There is no universal internal structure: the bytes inside a .bkup file are those of whatever was backed up. A very common producer is cPanel and web-hosting platforms, which write .bkup files as gzip-compressed tar archives. A plain copied file, by contrast, carries no compression and no added structure.
A .bkup backup copy is useful in case of unexpected events resulting in damaging or deletion of the original file - it enables restoring the original data to its previous state. Because .bkup files are created by many different programs, in order to properly read the content of a .bkup file it must be opened with the software that generated it. If that software is unavailable, inspect the file header to identify the underlying type, then decompress or extract accordingly:
- cPanel/hosting backups: restore via the cPanel interface, or run
tar -xzf yourfile.bkupon Linux. - Plain copied files: rename by replacing
.bkupwith the original extension. - Archive-format backups: open with an archiver such as 7-Zip or The Unarchiver.
Security & safety
RISK: MEDIUMA .bkup is only as risky as whatever it contains: a copied executable or database can carry the same threats as the original, and a malicious archive could include harmful files - so extract and open .bkup contents only from sources you trust. Operationally the bigger danger is data loss: do not delete a .bkup until you have confirmed the current data is good, and keep at least one copy elsewhere. Server/account backups can hold sensitive data (passwords, databases), so store and transfer them securely.
Format details
in a nutshell- cPanel / web hosting account backup (.bkup) - Hosting control panels and some backup scripts name full-account or database backups with .bkup; usually a gzip tarball restored through cPanel.
- Wherigo cartridge backup (.bkup) - Backup copy of a Wherigo GPS-adventure cartridge (.gwc/.gwz) kept by Wherigo Builder; restore by renaming back to the cartridge extension.
- Application/database backup (.bkup) - Many apps and DBMS tools drop .bkup copies of their data files before changes; the file's real type matches the original.
Programs that open BKUP files
Windows2 apps
7-Zip
Open-source If the .bkup is an archive (most server backups are tar/gzip), open it to extract the real files; otherwise rename to the original extension. 
Notepad
Open-source Open the .bkup as text to peek at the first bytes/header and identify what the file really is. 
macOS1 app
The Unarchiver
Free Extract a .bkup that is actually a tar/gzip/zip archive; otherwise rename to the original extension and open in the matching app. 
Linux1 app
tar / gzip
Open-source For server backups: tar -xzf file.bkup (or gunzip) to extract; inspect with 'file file.bkup' to detect the real type.
cPanel
Paid In the hosting panel, use Backup / Backup Wizard > Restore and upload the .bkup to restore the account, home dir or database. Technical details
deep spec| MIME type | application/octet-stream |
| File signature (magic bytes) | None - inherits the header of the underlying file (e.g. 1F 8B for gzip, 75 73 74 61 72 for tar) |
| Internal encoding | Binary or plain text, depending entirely on the source file |
| Typical container | gzip-compressed tar archive (cPanel/hosting backups) or a raw file copy |
| Compression | gzip when produced by cPanel or hosting tools; none for plain file copies |
| Encryption | None by default; some backup tools add optional encryption |
| Integrity verification | CRC32 checksum when wrapped in a gzip container; separate manifests in some backup managers |
| Typical file size | A few KB to several GB - determined entirely by what was backed up |
| Associated platforms | Windows, Linux, macOS; server-side .bkup files are predominantly generated on Linux |
| Common producers | cPanel account backup system, scripted backup utilities, applications that adopt the .bkup suffix |
| Alternate suffix spellings | .bak, .backup, .old - same backup purpose, different extension spelling |
| Identification method | Inspect the first bytes of the file to determine the underlying type, then use the appropriate tool |
| Byte order | Inherited from the underlying file format |
| Internal structure | Point-in-time copy of source data; internal layout is that of the original (archive, DB dump, config, app data) |
| Released | Convention; '.bkup' is an alternate spelling of the long-standing '.bak'/'.backup' backup suffix |
| Latest version | N/A (no single specification) |
BKUP conversions
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