What is the CFR file format?
A .cfr file is a proprietary game replay saved by CrossFire, the online tactical first-person shooter developed by Smilegate. Rather than storing video footage, the file logs a sequential record of player input events, positions, and game-state deltas from a match. Playback works by feeding that event log back into the CrossFire game engine, which re-simulates the match in real time.
Because .cfr replays are tightly coupled to the game version that produced them, they typically become unplayable after a significant game patch changes internal data structures. The file has no publicly documented magic bytes or formal specification - it is a closed proprietary binary format tied to the Windows game client.
Crossfire launched in South Korea in 2007 and became one of the most-played shooters in Asia. Western servers (formerly Z8Games, later wargaming.info) have been discontinued; active servers continue in Korea and China under Smilegate. Only the CrossFire game client can open .cfr files - no third-party tools exist for reading or converting them. Converting a replay to video requires screen-capturing a session during in-game playback.
Related replay formats from other engines include .dem files used by Valve's Source engine and .rec files used by various other titles.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWData-only replay log with no executable code. Risk is minimal; treat as any downloaded file.
Format details
in a nutshell- GigaStar / Creatacard CFR - Some older Broderbund Creatacard versions used .cfr for card project files - completely unrelated format.
Programs that open CFR files
Windows1 app
Technical details
deep spec| Format type | Proprietary binary game replay (sequential event log) |
| Encoding | Binary, little-endian (Windows game engine convention) |
| Magic bytes | None publicly documented |
| Compression | Not documented (likely none or proprietary engine-specific) |
| Encryption | None documented |
| Playback method | Re-simulation inside CrossFire game engine - not video decode |
| Version coupling | Tightly bound to game patch version; replays become unplayable after engine updates |
| Associated OS | Windows only |
| Typical file size | 1 MB - 50 MB (varies with match length and game mode) |
| Developer | Smilegate (South Korea) |
| Open-source tool support | None available |
| Video conversion | Only via screen capture during in-game playback; no direct extraction tool |
| Active server regions | South Korea and China (Smilegate); Western servers discontinued |
| Specification | Not publicly documented; closed proprietary format |
| Released | ~2007 (CrossFire launch) |
| Latest version | Unknown; format versioned per game patch |
CFR conversions
Community Q&A
asked by usersNo questions yet - be the first to ask about CFR files.
